Overview

Obesity is defines as a disorder that involves abnormal or excessive body fat that is known to
negatively impact and impair an individuals health and well being. BMI is used to classify
obesity. BMI stands for body mass index and is simply an individuals weight divided by their
height. If the individuals BMI is greater than or equal to 25, they are considered overweight; if
the BMI is greater than or equal to 30, they are considered obese.
Since 1980, worldwide obesity has doubled. In 2014, it was recorded that 600 million of adult
ages 18 and older, were obese around the world. Interestingly enough, 78.6 million of these 600
million individuals, are from the United States alone, which in part constitutes to a third of the
adult population in the US. Compare this to the around 4.5 million obese individuals from Japan.
Obesity is the culprit of countless diseases including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes,
musculoskeletal disorders and some cancers. It is for these reasons that obesity should not be
taken lightly, and why we come to ask ourselves a couple of important questions:
Research Question
Why is obesity so much more present in western countries?
Essential Questions
Does the nutritional value of food consumed per day have an effect on the obesity rates of
different countries?
How do the prices of popular fast foods differ between countries and how does it affect
obesity rates?
Countries
France

Obesity
Rates
10%

Hungary

18.1%

Italy

8.1%

Japan

3.6%

Spain

14.8%

Switzerland

7.8%

Unites States

34.2%

The visual above represent the obesity rates around the world in 2010. The darker the filling, the
higher the rate. In the example above its easier to visualize that western countries are in fact

dealing with a more pressing matter of obesity that is affecting a higher percentage of
individuals than that of eastern countries.

Key Findings
Japan has the smallest obesity rate of 3.6% as opposed to the USAs 38.8% in 2014
Women tend to have a higher obesity rate than men, in 2014 15% of women worldwide
while 11% of the male population was obese
In 2014, an average of 13% were considered obese and the leading cause of death was
heart failure, which is one of the many health consequences of an elevated BMI

Both charts demonstrate a small correlation

between nutritional values of the food consumed
and increased obesity rates. The smallest
consumption of fat and sugar is in Japan, which
in turn has the smallest obesity rate (3.6%). The
average fat consumption is 141.2 grams per
person per day worldwide, Japan consumes less
than a third of this (45.7) which weve concluded
is a huge factor in its tiny obese population.
Although there is a slight correlation and the
trendline is increasing, France consumes the
biggest amount of fat and sugar, and yet, they
are far from being the country with the biggest
obesity rate (10% as opposed to the USs 34.2%
or even Hungarys 18%). In conclusion, there
does seem to be a correlation between the two
indicators but there are other factors that need
to be considered in order to arrive at a well
rounded opinion why there is such an impressive
increase of obesity rates in the US and in
western countries.

Limitations
When accumulating the data for the findings, we encountered multiple limitations including difficulty in finding the average
nutritional value of meals in different countries. We also had difficulty finding the variation of prices of a same processed food
across the world. A lot of the information we recorded wasnt available for all countries in the world, so we had to decrease our
sample space to an average of 7 countries. Another limitation anyone will encounter when looking at obesity rates is realizing
that height and body types play a factor in BMI so having 100% accurate obesity rates is an almost impossible task. BMI is a
simple index for classifying obesity, but BMI doesnt always correspond to the same degree of fatness in all individuals. Muscle
mass, breast size, and other factors can alter the BMI and therefore, the obesity rates.

Recommendations
Obesity is a self manageable condition, however, after studying the findings, one of the ways to make