Obesity, adult (18+) and child and adolescent (5-19)
Summary
The obesity data for adult as well as child and adolescent is pulled from the Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO database. The GHO data repository holds health-related statistics for WHO’s 194 Member States. In IFs, we have estimated obesity prevalence data from GHO for different age groups including 5-9, 10-19, 5-19, and 18+ for male, female, as well as both sexes combined. This data was originally from NCD-RisC. NCD-RisC. Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents and adults.
Tables In IFs
| Table | Group | Definition | Source | Original Source | Last IFs Update |
| SeriesHealthObesityFemaleCrude18+Est% | Health | Percentage of female adults aged 18+ years with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher (crude estimates) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityMaleCrude18+Est% | Health | Percentage of male adults aged 18+ years with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher (crude estimates) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityBothCrude18+Est% | Health | Percentage of adults aged 18+ years with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher (crude estimates) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityFemaleAgeStan18+Est% | Health | Percentage of female adults aged 18+ years with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher (age standardized estimates) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityMaleAgeStan18+Est% | Health | Percentage of male adults aged 18+ years with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher (age standardized estimates) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityBothAgeStan18+Est% | Health | Percentage of adults of both sexes aged 18+ years with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher (age standardized estimates) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityFemaleCrude5-19+Est% | Health | Prevalence of obesity among female children and adolescents aged 5-19, BMI > +2 standard deviations above the median (crude estimate) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityMaleCrude5-19+Est% | Health | Prevalence of obesity among male children and adolescents aged 5-19, BMI > +2 standard deviations above the median (crude estimate) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityBothCrude5-19+Est% | Health | Prevalence of obesity among both sexes children and adolescents aged 5-19, BMI > +2 standard deviations above the median (crude estimate) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityFemaleCrude5-9+Est% | Health | Prevalence of obesity among female children and adolescents aged 5-9, BMI > +2 standard deviations above the median (crude estimate) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityMaleCrude5-9+Est% | Health | Prevalence of obesity among male children and adolescents aged 5-9, BMI > +2 standard deviations above the median (crude estimate) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityBothCrude5-9+Est% | Health | Prevalence of obesity among both sexes children and adolescents aged 5-9, BMI > +2 standard deviations above the median (crude estimate) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityFemaleCrude10-19+Est% | Health | Prevalence of obesity among female children and adolescents aged 10-19, BMI > +2 standard deviations above the median (crude estimate) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityMaleCrude10-19+Est% | Health | Prevalence of obesity among male children and adolescents aged 10-19, BMI > +2 standard deviations above the median (crude estimate) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
| SeriesHealthObesityBothCrude10-19+Est% | Health | Prevalence of obesity among both sexes children and adolescents aged 10-19, BMI > +2 standard deviations above the median (crude estimate) | Global Health Observatory (GHO), WHO | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38432237/ | 7/29/2025 |
Data Pulling Instructions
Step 1:
Data can be found here: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicators-index
You can find the data needed with the keyword “obesity”. As of 7/29/2025, there are three relevant datasets (adult crude estimate, adult age-standardized estimate, and children and adolescents crude estimate).
Step 2:
After accessing the link, direct to the data tab and right click on EXPORT DATA in CSV format:
Step 3:
You can then go into the csv files to slice the data needed as well as convert them from long to wide format.
Data Notes
1. When downloading, be careful of Turkey and Cote D'Ivoire, as they might be wrongly encoded and appear to be Türkiye and Côte d'Ivoire in the sheet
2. Use data from “occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem” for Palestine for the tables.