Epidemiology of obesity

Greece has the highest proportion of obese boys in Europe (16.7% of the population), while Malta has the most obese girls (11.3%), according to a new international study published in the medical journal “The Lancet” , on occasion of World Obesity Day on 11 October.
Moldova has the smallest obesity rates in Europe (3.2% of the population) and 5% in boys .

Childhood obesity is soaring across the world, increasing more than tenfold over the past four decades, putting many millions at risk of poor health and an early death, according to the biggest ever analysis of the data.

Childhood obesity is still an issue of concern in Bulgaria, with the country keeping its fifth spot among European states according to that criteria.

The announcement was made by Svetoslav Handzhiev, who heads the Bulgarian Association for the Study of Obesity and Related Diseases (BASORD), on the occasion of World Obesity Day, according to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).

According to the latest figures of WHO, which were presented in Prague on Wednesday, Bulgaria has the fifth largest share of obese or overweight children under the age of five in Europe.

The results of an obesity forecast exercise, which were revealed at the European Obesity Conference, showed that the share of obese or overweight children in Bulgaria was 19.8 %.

Almost 15 per cent of Romania's 4.5 million children are also obese, the Eurostat report said, and the number of grossly overweight children has doubled over the past eight years.

"The main causes of obesity among children are unhealthy lifestyles and the consumption of junk food, which has replaced at least one regular meal a day for many," said Romanian doctor Gabriela Roman.

Crash diets, the dangers of eating too much white broad, gastric bands – whether they really work - and can you live off prunes?

It’s all been kicking off at the European Congress on Obesity, which ends May 31.

One in three Greek children is overweight or obese, according to a new report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which found that Greece, Italy, Slovenia and the US have the highest levels of child obesity among the OECD’s 34 member countries.