World Obesity Atlas 2026 - Childhood Obesity 2nd edition

Oct 12, 2026

World Obesity Atlas 2026: Childhood Obesity 2nd edition presents new global, regional, and national estimates of childhood overweight and obesity, including projections to 2040. It quantifies early signs of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and liver disease linked to excess weight, and reports national performance across seven obesity risk-factor exposure indicators and seven policy protections. It also includes 196 country scorecards detailing preventable risks and policy actions, alongside methods, definitions, and supporting references.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages274

Reading Time1 h 36 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Definitions

List of tables and figures

Acronyms

Foreword

Personal stories

Section 1: Headlines from the World Obesity Atlas 2026

Section 2: Childhood overweight and obesity

Section 3: School-age children 5-19 years and risk factors for chronic disease due to overweight and obesity

Section 4: (risk factors and national dietary patterns)

Section 5: Indicators for national policies to prevent childhood obesity

Section 6: Monitoring, screening and treatment services

Section 7: Accelerating action on childhood obesity

Section 8: 196 country scorecards

References

Annex

Annex: Methods

World Obesity Atlas 2026 Childhood Obesity 2nd edition Overweight and obesity in children and adolescents • New global, regional and national estimates of the numbers of children living with overweight and obesity now and projected to 2040 • New estimates of the numbers of children with early signs of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and liver disease due to overweight and obesity • National performance on seven indicators for children’s exposure to obesity risk factors • National performance on seven policies to protect children from obesity • Plus 196 national scorecards for individual country-level figures for childhood obesity, early signs of chronic disease, extent of the preventable risks, and policy actions March 2026 Source information compiled by Tim Lobstein, Rachel Thompson, Rachel Jackson-Leach, Sarah Spreckley and Jaynaide Powis. Additional material from the World Obesity Federation Communications and Policy teams. Design by fuzzylime [fuzzylime.co.uk](fuzzylime.co.uk) © World Obesity Federation 2026. World Obesity Federation 3 Waterhouse Square, 138-142 Holborn, London EC1N 2SW [www.worldobesity.org](www.worldobesity.org) [\#worldobesityatlas](#worldobesityatlas) [Suggested Citation:](Suggested Citation:) World Obesity Federation. World Obesity Atlas 2026, Childhood Obesity 2nd edition. London: World Obesity Federation, 2026. [https://data.worldobesity.org/publications/?cat=24](https://data.worldobesity.org/publications/?cat=24) Acknowledgements: The World Obesity Atlas is a non-commercial publication by the World Obesity Federation. The publishers are indebted to the World Health Organization, the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Bank, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Division, the Global Child Nutrition Foundation, and the Global Dietary Database at Tufts University. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Company have provided funding to partially support the World Obesity Federation’s 2026 Atlas. Neither Novo Nordisk or Eli Lilly and Company have had any control or influence over the Atlas content or any materials/ activities that were developed as part of this funding. All data are used with the owners’ permission or with Creative Commons (4) consent. All rights reserved. None of the source organisations is responsible for the use that has been made of their data in the present publication. For further details, please see the methods section in the Annex and the reference list. Contents Definitions 4 List of tables and figures 5 Acronyms 7 Foreword 8 Personal stories 9 Section 1: Headlines from the World Obesity Atlas 2026 11 1.1 Children under 5 years: 86 countries have seen an increase in overweight prevalence since 2010, and 38 countries are not reporting their prevalence data 12 1.2 School-age children 5-19 years: More than 180 countries have seen a rise in prevalence of overweight and obesity since 2010 13 1.3 In some countries, more than half of school-age children 5-19 years live with high BMI, including more than a third with obesity 16 1.4 Ten countries alone account for over 200 million school-age children 5-19 years with high BMI 17 1.5 The majority of school-age children 5-19 years living with obesity reside in middle-income countries 18 1.6 At least 120 million school-age children 5-19 years are expected to have early signs of chronic disease caused by high BMI by 2040 19 1.7 Children remain exposed to known risks for developing obesity 20 1.8 More countries need to take comprehensive action to prevent childhood obesity 21 1.9 Childhood obesity monitoring, screening and treatment services appear to be substantially lacking 22 Section 2: Childhood overweight and obesity 23 2.1 The global transition 24 2.2 Children under 5 years 25 2.3 Children 5-19 years 29 2.3.1 Trends and projections to 2040: childr

FAQs

What data does the World Obesity Atlas 2026 provide for childhood overweight and obesity?

It provides global, regional, and national estimates of the number of children living with overweight and obesity now and projected to 2040, including trends and projections for age groups under 5 and ages 5–19.

How does the Atlas link childhood weight status to chronic disease risk?

It includes estimates of the numbers of children with early signs of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and liver disease due to overweight and obesity, alongside indicators related to exposure to obesity risk factors.

What policy and country-level materials are included in the Atlas?

It reports national performance on seven policies to protect children from obesity and includes 196 national scorecards covering childhood obesity, early signs of chronic disease, preventable risks, and policy actions.

Oct 12, 2026

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