Figures from the World Obesity Federation show that 1.9 billion people, or one in four people, will be affected in 2035, and the cost of the disease will reach $4.32 trillion. Photo by Vladimir Wasyluk / Forum
53 per cent of adults in the European Union were overweight in 2019, according to data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). 17 per cent of Europeans were struggling with obesity. Forty-five per cent were of normal weight and 3 per cent. - underweight. Across the EU, it is men who are more predisposed to weight gain. Graphic: PAP, Adam Ziemienowicz
If you look at the percentage of people who are not overweight but already obese, the figures seem a little better. But the number of obese people worldwide has almost tripled since 1975. And it is accelerating. Graphic: PAP, Adam Ziemienowicz
Over 15 years, starting from 2020, the number of children suffering from obesity will double. The WHO warns that one in ten is already obese, but it is Polish children who are putting on weight at the fastest rate in Europe - one in four schoolchildren already has an overweight problem. Graphics: PAP, Adam Ziemienowicz
In Poland, as many as 45 per cent of people with obesity admitted that they had personally experienced attention being drawn to their weight, and 35 per cent had encountered verbal abuse related to obesity, a study conducted in February 2022 by research agency SW Research showed. Graphics: PAP, Maria Samczuk
Unfortunately, people with obesity-related illnesses are discriminated against even in health care institutions. As many as 40 per cent of those surveyed have encountered mistreatment from medical professionals. Graphic: PAP, Maria Samczuk
Obesity has very quickly been recognised as a disease of civilisation - one of the most dangerous and extremely complicated. Pictured is Dr Lucyna Ostrowska at the Obesity Treatment Centre in Bialystok. Photo: Piotr Mecik / Forum
In 2035, one in four people worldwide will struggle with obesity