The Czech Republic Is One of Europe's 10 Fattest Countries

Newly released UN data reflects a growing obesity epidemic among EU nations – the Czech Republic included

Expats.cz Staff Jason Pirodsky

Written by Expats.cz StaffJason Pirodsky Published on 13.09.2018 12:40:02 (updated on 13.09.2018) Reading time: 1 minute

Newly released research by the World Health Organization (WHO), assessed data on an estimated 900 million people in 53 countries in a vast geographical area stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

In its European Health Report the UN agency warned that increased life expectancy rates are being threatened by the growing proportion of obese people in a number of nations including the Czech Republic.

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Figures ranked the Czech Republic as the seventh most obese nation in Europe with 26% of the population meeting the definition of obesity — a body mass index (BMI) score of more than 30 (anything higher than 25 is classified as overweight).

The European average is 23.3%.

These are the ten most obese nations as ranked by WHO:

Turkey – 32.1%
Malta – 28.9%
United Kingdom – 27.8%
Hungary – 26.4%
Lithuania – 26.3%
Israel – 26.1%
Czech Republic – 26.0%
Andorra – 25.6%
Ireland – 25.3%
Bulgaria – 25.0%

Switzerland had the lowest levels of obesity in the study, at 19.5%.

Unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, and alcohol consumption were all determined to be factors in rising obesity rates across the EU.

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Among European Union nations in 2014, Lithuania had the highest average alcohol consumption at 15.2 liters per person, followed by the Czech Republic (12.7) and Belgium (12.6).

The report noted that, overall, Europe has some of the highest rates of smoking and alcohol consumption in the world.

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