According to the first-ever obesity forecast citizens of the world’s richest countries are getting fatter and fatter and the U.S. is leading the charge. Three out of four Americans will be overweight or obese by 2020, and disease rates and health care spending will balloon, unless governments, individuals and industry cooperate on a comprehensive strategy to combat the epidemic, the study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.
In 10 years, a full 75 percent of Americans will be overweight, making it “the fattest country in the OECD.” According to Johns Hopkins, about 86 percent of U.S. adults would be overweight or obese by 2030 if current trends continue.
The lifespan of an obese person is 8 to 10 years shorter than that of a normal-weight person, the OECD said, the same loss of lifespan incurred by smoking. In the U.S. the cost in dollars of obesity is equivalent to 1 percent of the country’s total gross domestic product. These costs could rise two- or threefold over the coming years. Obesity and overweight-related health care costs would rise 70 percent by 2015 and could be 2.4 times higher than the current level in 2025 according to the report.