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This study analyzes temporal trends in obesity prevalence worldwide, using WHO “Global Health Observatory” data and Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2023 data. It assesses crude adult obesity prevalence across WHO regions and changes between 1976 and 2016. Results show substantial regional variation, with the highest prevalence in Europe and the Americas (over 20%) and lower levels in Africa, Western Pacific, and South-East Asia (under 10%). Prevalence increased across all regions, was higher in females, and obesity-related BMI ranks among major death risk factors. 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High BMI rose sharply in global rank for death risk factors, with major BMI-related causes including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertensive heart disease, and ischemic stroke.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},461617,1790918519,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":52,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":41,"preview_page_count":4},962090883219,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Article  \nIncreasing Obesity Rates Worldwide from 1976 to 2016: The Obesity Epidemic  \nKarsten Keller 1,2, *, Volker H. Schmitt 1,3, Omar Hahad 1,3, Christine Espinola-Klein 1,2 and Lukas Hobohm 1,2  \nAcademic Editor: EleniJelastopulu  \nReceived: 1 November 2025  \nRevised: 22 December 2025  \nAccepted: 28 December 2025  \nPublished: 5 January 2026  \nCopyright: © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.  \n1 Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz,  \n55131 Mainz, Germany; [volker.schmitt@unimedizin-mainz.de](volker.schmitt@unimedizin-mainz.de) (V.H.S.);  \n[omar.hahad@unimedizin-mainz.de](omar.hahad@unimedizin-mainz.de) (O.H.); [espinola@uni-mainz.de](espinola@uni-mainz.de) (C.E.-K.);  \n[lukas.hobohm@unimedizin-mainz.de](lukas.hobohm@unimedizin-mainz.de) (L.H.)  \n2 Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55131 Mainz, Germany  \n3 German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Rhine Main, 55131 Mainz, Germany  \n* Correspondence: [karsten.keller@unimedizin-mainz.de](karsten.keller@unimedizin-mainz.de); Tel.: +49-6131-170  \nAbstract  \nBackground: Obesity is a major health concern worldwide and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a global epidemic. We aimed to analyze temporal trends of obesity prevalence worldwide. Methods: We used data of “The Global Health Observatory”of the WHO and analyzed data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2023 . Obesity prevalence (crude estimates) among adults in different worldwide WHO regions and temporal trends from 1976 and 2016 were analyzed. Results: Obesity prevalence showed large regional differences. In 2016, obesity prevalence was highest in the WHO European region and the region of the Americas, at more than 20%, whereas prevalence was lower in the WHO African region, the WHO Western Pacific region and the WHO South-East Asia region, at less than 10% . The absolute increase from 1976 to 2016 comprised an increase of 19.7% in the region of the Americas, of 14.8% and 14.2% in the WHO European region and the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region, followed by 7.3% in the WHO African region, 6.0% in the WHO Western Pacific region, and 4.2% in the WHO South-East Asia region. We observed a substantially higher prevalence of obesity in females. High BMI has risen sharply in rank worldwide, now ranging among the top six global risk factors for death. Major BMI-related causes include ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertensive heart disease, and ischemic stroke. Conclusions: Obesity prevalence showed large regional differences and was highest in Europe and America. The prevalence of obesity increased worldwide between 1976 and 2016 . Obesity prevalence was higher in females than in males. The importance of obesity for premature death increased between 1990 and 2023.  \nKeywords: obesity; prevalence; epidemiology; epidemic; sex-specific  \n1. Introduction  \nObesity is an increasing problem worldwide, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a global epidemic [1,2] . During the past decades, an increase in overweight and obesity was recorded worldwide and in most countries [1–5] . Epidemiologic studies revealed that the prevalence of obesity has doubled in most countries worldwide since 1980, rising not only in high-income countries, but also in those deemed to be lowincome and middle-income nations [1–3] . It has been estimated that more than half of the  \nAmerican adult population will be obese in 2030 [6] . In particular, the morbid obesity with body mass index (BMI) > 40 kg/m2 is a major health concern [7] .  \nObesity is associated with the development of a wide range of acute and chronic secondary diseases such as coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction,","cbCaimqj0okllKf9","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimqj0okllKf9","pdf",1747349,12,"English","# Abstract\n## Background\n## Methods\n## Results\n## Conclusions\n# 1. Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What data sources were used to study obesity trends worldwide?\",\"answer\":\"The analysis used data from the WHO “Global Health Observatory” and analyzed inputs from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2023.\"},{\"question\":\"How did obesity prevalence differ across WHO regions in 2016?\",\"answer\":\"In 2016, obesity prevalence was highest in the WHO European region and the Americas (above 20%), while it was lower in Africa, the Western Pacific, and South-East Asia (below 10%).\"},{\"question\":\"What did the study find about obesity differences by sex and major health impacts?\",\"answer\":\"Obesity prevalence was substantially higher in females. High BMI rose sharply in global rank for death risk factors, with major BMI-related causes including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertensive heart disease, and ischemic stroke.\"}]","Increasing Obesity Rates Worldwide from 1976 to 2016 - The Obesity Epidemic | PDF",1790761981]