Obesity will cost more than 90 million lives in industrialized and emerging countries over the next three decades. A study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states that obesity-related or overweight-related illnesses will reduce life expectancy by almost three years on average.
More than half of the population in 34 of the 36 OECD countries is overweight, according to experts, and almost one in four is obese. By 2050, researchers calculated around 92 million corresponding premature deaths.
Obesity also slows the economy in the countries and affect prosperity, it says in the study: Obesity reduced the gross domestic product on average by 3.3 percent.
Overweight children are worse at school
In the European Union, the risk of obesity is significantly increased when people are in the lower income bracket. This consolidates inequality, the researchers say.
Overweight has negative consequences, especially for children. The OECD has found that overweight children in school are harder and get lower grades. The likelihood of obese children achieving good school performance is 13 percent lower than others.
They also lacked longer than children with healthy body weight in school and would be bullied more often by their classmates, according to the experts (read an expert interview here on how to prevent your child from getting too fat).
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As an aid to obesity, the OECD mentions a number of possibilities, such as advertising bans, warnings or seals on food, the ban on certain fats, campaigns over mass media or school programs.
The OECD brings together the most developed economies and emerging economies such as Mexico or Turkey.
In Germany, according to the Federal Statistical Office, more than 60 percent of men and more than 40 percent of women are overweight.
