On World Obesity Day...this is a list of the Arab countries most affected by obesity

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - More than a billion children, adolescents and adults suffer from obesity worldwide, according to an analysis published Thursday in The Lancet. This makes obesity the most common form of malnutrition in many countries.

The lead author of the analysis, a professor at Imperial College London, Dr. Majed Ezzati, said in a press conference on Thursday that this staggering statistic was reached earlier than expected. This is due to the rapid shift from malnutrition in the form of underweight to obesity in low- and middle-income countries largely, according to him.

Ezzati said that previous estimates by the World Obesity Federation indicated that one billion people would suffer from obesity by 2030, but this number has already been exceeded in 2022. The analysis focused on rates of underweight and obesity, both of which are forms of malnutrition that are harmful to people’s health.

Egypt topped the list of Arab countries suffering from obesity in 2022, followed by Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.