--- title: Obesity: 30% of People In the World Are Obese or Overweight description: A new report shows over 2 billion people are overweight or obese worldwide. canonical: https://time.com/4813075/obesity-overweight-weight-loss/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-12T15:00:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:21:46.034Z article:section: Health og:title: Almost 30% of People In the World Are Obese or Overweight og:description: The rates of death from weight-related health problems are also shockingly high. og:url: https://time.com/4813075/obesity-overweight-weight-loss/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c8dea293d4d6df2/6988c1290b72e3cd166ed2f3/time-health-stock-weight.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4645 og:image:height: 2613 og:image:alt: time-health-stock-weight-loss og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Almost 30% of People In the World Are Obese or Overweight twitter:description: The rates of death from weight-related health problems are also shockingly high. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c8dea293d4d6df2/6988c1290b72e3cd166ed2f3/time-health-stock-weight.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Almost 30% of People In the World Are Obese or Overweight > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=e0d7953f-9808-4ae1-9412-b342c552e8d1&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 12, 2017 3:00 PM UTC  Close-up of woman's feet on scale Close-up of woman's feet on scale Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 12, 2017 3:00 PM UTC The global obesity epidemic continues, and a new report shows that about two billion people worldwide are overweight or obese. That’s about 30% of the world’s population. The new study, published in the [_New England Journal of Medicine_](http://www.nejm.org/), found that about a third of the global population—including adults and children—exceed a healthy weight. About 10% of people in the world are obese, according to the findings. Studies have linked overweight and obesity to a higher risk for health complications like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression, respiratory problems, major cancers and more. **MORE**: [9 Science-Backed Weight Loss Tips](http://time.com/4789169/weight-loss-diet-tips/?iid=sr-link2) The study authors looked at data from people in 195 countries and territories from 1980 through 2015\. They found that in 2015, there were 107 million children and 603 million adults with obesity. Having a high body mass index accounted for 4 million deaths in 2015, and more than two thirds of these deaths were from heart disease. Since 1980, obesity rates in 70 countries have doubled, the study found, and the rate of childhood obesity has increased faster in many countries than the adult obesity rate. As [TIME recently reported](http://time.com/4793832/the-weight-loss-trap/), several factors have contributed to the growing obesity epidemic, including greater access to fast food, larger portion sizes and ubiquitous processed food. 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