Globally, obesity costs 2,000 billion dollars a year, far ahead of alcoholism or road accidents.
Obesity is not just a public health problem. It is also a burden on the world economy, according to a report from the World McKinsey Institute (in English). The economic impact of obesity worldwide is approximately $ 2,000 billion (or approximately € 1,600 billion) per year. This annual amount corresponds to the economic impact of cigarettes or of violence (taking into account military budgets, the consequences of war and terrorism) in the world, i.e. $ 2,100 billion each (1,676 billion dollars). ‘euros).
Ranking of “global burden of disease” – Obesity is in third place (© McKinsey Global Institute)
Obesity is far ahead of alcoholism ($ 1,400 billion), illiteracy ($ 1,300 billion), climate change ($ 1,000 billion), or drug use and road accidents ($ 700 billion each).
The aim of this study is to sound an alarm signal concerning obesity, the prevalence of which is only increasing. More than 2.1 billion people – nearly 30% of the world’s population – are overweight or obese. This is almost 2.5 times more than the number of people who suffer from malnutrition.
Obesity is even responsible for nearly 5% of deaths worldwide. The WHO estimates that 2.8 million deaths are due to overweight each year, out of the 59 million people who lose their lives each year. Worse, the McKinsey Institute warns that if the trend remains unchanged, nearly half of the population could be obese or in suproids by 2030.
These data put forward by the World McKinsey Institute were retrieved from the Global Burden Disease database (the WHO Global Burden of Disease Database) and the World Bank 2012 Economic Indicators. They exclude associated income or taxes, but include productivity losses due to costs caused by disability or death.
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