Obesity causes 1.2m deaths in Europe each year, says WHO

 A new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that overweight and obesity causes 1.2 million European deaths every year, while not a single EU country is on track to reach the target of reducing obesity rates by 2025.

Obesity is a complex multifactorial disease, which affects almost 60% of adults and 1 in 3 children, according to the WHO. It was categorised as a chronic disease by the European Commission in 2021.

Kremlin Wickramasinghe, prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) acting head at WHO European Office, named the crisis a “tsunami of obesity,” adding that “we urgently need to pull together all that we have in order to stop this pandemic”. 

During the report launch event on Tuesday (3 May), Francesco Branca, nutrition and food safety director at WHO, highlighted that obesity is not only responsible for non-communicable diseases but also raises the risk of infectious diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people living with obesity had an increased risk of severe complications by up to four times. (...)