Obesity in France

Obesity in France is a growing health issue. Obesity in children is growing at a faster rate than obesity in adults.

Based on World Health Organisation (WHO) data published in 2014, 23.9% of French adults (age 18+) were clinically obese with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater. The data showed the incidence of obesity in French women in 2014 was 24.0% and among French men 23.8%. Overall adult obesity rates in France were significantly ahead of the Netherlands at 19.8%, Germany at 20.1% and Italy at 21.0%, but behind the United Kingdom and the United States at 28.1% and 33.7% respectively.

Based on 2014 WHO data, France was ranked as the 122nd fattest country in terms of mean BMI for adults of both sexes, with a mean BMI score of 25.3.

Obesity levels in France doubled between 1995 and 2004 (to 11.3% of the population). In 2001 France was reported to have had the lowest obesity rate in Europe.

Nord-Pas-de-Calais is considered the fattest region in France. Fifty-one percent of the population here is considered either overweight or obese. This is in contrast with France's national average at 42 percent. Between 1992 and 2000, in the region, obesity in girls doubled while the total for boys grew by 195%.

Obesity in France has been increasingly cited as a major health issue in recent years. It is now considered a political issue whereas before it would have been an issue reported on television talk shows or in women's magazines just a few years prior.

France became the first European Union country to state that childhood obesity rates have started to level off while drastic increase in childhood obesity rates continue in most European countries. France is approximately ranked in the middle European childhood obesity rates rankings. Researchers have said this is caused from "government policies, a growing awareness of the dangers of obesity and the fact that children are eating less".

McDonald's is more profitable in France than anywhere else in Europe. Sales have increased 42% over the past five years. Some 1.2 million French, or 2 percent of the population, eat there every day.

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