Brazil ended 2019 with more than a quarter of its adult population classified as obese, according to a study published on Wednesday (21) by IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). In total, 41.2 million Brazilians, or 25.9% of people over 18, were considered obese.
The condition affected 29.5% of women (25 million) and 21.8% of men (16.2 million) adults in the country.
The figures point to an increase since the last survey, done in 2013, when the survey pointed out obesity in 25.7% of women and in 17.9% of men over 20 years. On the same basis of comparison, the 2019 edition of the study showed 30.2% obese and 22.8% obese.
According to the IBGE, the age group of this historical series is this one to enable comparison with previous editions of the survey. Between 2003 and 2019, the proportion of obese people in the population aged 20 and over doubled, going from 12.2% to 26.8%.
The survey also indicated that the highest prevalence of obesity is in the population aged 40 to 59 years, reaching 34.4%. Overweight people represent 70.3% of the country in this age group.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon