The proportion of adults with a healthy body mass index (BMI) – defined as being between 18.5 and 25 – fell to just 34% in men and 39% in women during 2011.
There has been a marked increase in obesity rates over the past eight years – in 1993 13% of men and 16% of women were obese – in 2011 this rose to 24% for men and 26% for women.
For children attending reception class (aged 4-5 years) during 2011-12, 9.5% were obese.
Health outcomes
In 2011, 53% of obese men and 44% of obese women were found to have high blood pressure.
During 2011-12 there were 11,736 hospital admissions due to obesity – this over 11 times higher than during 2001-02.