The fattest countries in the world revealed: Ultimate guide to the obesity crisis and the surprising positions of Britain and the US in the rankings

Obesity rates have increased 17 times in parts of the world over the past 20 years, MailOnline can reveal today.

Of the 200 countries that historically track their collective waistline, only France saw its share of obese adults decline between 1990 and 2022.

Bangladesh, Nepal and the African country of Burkina Faso all recorded jumps of more than 1,000 percent in the same time frame, with the obesity epidemic now visible in every corner of the earth.

According to figures from the World Health Organization, obesity rates have doubled worldwide, including in Britain and the US.

More than a billion people worldwide are now considered fat, with a BMI above 30.

American Samoa is the fattest country, according to the most recent annual figures from the WHO, illustrated in graphs and an interactive map.

Three-quarters of adults on the Polynesian island, a U.S. territory, are technically overweight.

Figures are also above 70 percent in neighboring South Pacific countries Tonga and Naura, which topped the fat tables when modern records began in 1990.

Broken down, WHO figures show that French and Spanish women are less obese today than in 1990.

Men’s waistlines have increased in every country, according to an analysis by MailOnline.

In 1990, Vietnam, East Timor, Ethiopia and Bangladesh had the lowest obesity rates.

Less than 0.3 percent of people living there were considered fat at the time – the equivalent of up to one in 333.

At the time, Britain’s adult population ranked 73rd in the world for obesity, sandwiched between Bermuda and Chile with an average of 12.4 percent.

In 2022, Britain dropped one place to 74th on the list. By then, however, 28.7 percent of the population was obese – an increase of more than 130 percent.

However, this toll does not include the millions of adults who are overweight but not fat enough to be considered obese.

In 1990, the US ranked 21st on the international obesity list between Saudi Arabia and Ukraine, with 18.5 percent of adults reporting a BMI level of at least 30.

In 2022, 42.9 percent of American adults were obese – also an increase above 130 percent. It pushed them up three places to 18th.

At the very bottom of the table in 2022 were Vietnam (2.1 percent), East Timor (2.3 percent) and Ethiopia (2.4 percent).

Professor Alexander Miras, an expert in the treatment of obesity at Imperial College London, said: ‘These data are incredibly worrying.

‘What is most worrying is how quickly levels have risen, especially in parts of the world where poverty is also high. There is a lot of food insecurity in those countries, as well as obesity now.

‘It just shows that obesity is not taken seriously.’

Tam Fry, chair of the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘The figures are disastrous.

‘There are now more obese people than malnourished people in Africa, which has surprised many people.

‘This risks deteriorating global health. Obesity is an eminently preventable condition.

‘But it’s not just a condition in itself, it causes many other problems that are even more worrying, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease. That’s why the price of health care will rise.”

Professor Naveed Sattar, an expert in cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said: ‘Fast food is reaching more and more parts of the world and with industrialization the level of activity is decreasing in parallel.

‘The inevitable consequence is a rise in obesity levels in almost all countries of the world.’

Newer statistics released by the US earlier this month raised hopes that the obesity crisis had been reversed.

Public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 40 percent of adults were obese between 2021 and 2023 — up from 42 percent the previous period.

It was the first year-over-year decline since the CDC began regularly tracking this metric a decade earlier.

The downward trend follows the meteoric rise of Ozempic and other breakthrough weight loss drugs, which top experts believe will usher in a new era in the war against bulging waistlines because of their powerful effects.

Experts insist it is far too early to know whether these play a role and that other factors may have played a role in the slight decline.

Professor Miras, who called the CDC reports ‘encouraging’, told MailOnline: ‘People have speculated whether anti-obesity drugs have affected this, but it is only speculation.

“While it’s a reasonable assumption, I think it’s too early to see its impact. It’s too early to make that judgment and I’m suspicious.

‘I doubt it because we haven’t been using these drugs for very long. But if it is a true phenomenon, then it is really good news.

‘Covid had a bidirectional relationship with obesity globally. It caused the most people to gain weight, so Covid may have made the situation worse.

‘But we also know that obese people were more vulnerable to Covid in terms of mortality and morbidity.’

Professor Sattar added: ‘The slight decline recently may be related to Covid, when weights went up and people quickly tried to reverse them. So I think we need more data to be sure.

‘It is possible that the increasing use of anti-obesity drugs, especially in the private market by many before they reach a BMI equivalent to obesity, is slowing the increase in obesity in some countries.

“But to be sure, we definitely need to see trends in the next three to four years.”

Mr Fry said: ‘There is no doubt that drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro will help, but they will only help a certain limited number of people.

‘My fear is that they are now mainly bought by a group of people who should not be using this medicine at all.

“It’s not a cosmetic, it’s a medicine, and it’s a very powerful medicine.”

In Britain, ministers are considering giving glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists such as Wegovy and Ozempic to unemployed obese people to get them back to work.

Labor’s Health Minister Wes Streeting has publicly stated that the range of drugs has ‘huge potential’. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also claimed they will be ‘very helpful’ in the war on benefits.

But the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned against the misuse of Ozempic and competing drugs due to their powerful side effects.

More than one in ten users experience gastrointestinal side effects, such as vomiting and diarrhea.

In most cases these are not serious, but can sometimes lead to severe dehydration, resulting in hospital admission.

Discussing the plans last week, Mr Streeting warned: ‘These are not cosmetic drugs to be used to get a nice body photo for Instagram… they are not a quick fix to lose a few pounds .

He urged Britons desperate to lose weight not to buy them online without undergoing an appropriate assessment.

It is estimated that obesity costs the NHS around £6.5 billion every year as it is the second largest preventable cause of cancer.