Obesity Rates: US States vs European Countries
Thursday, 13 Mar 2025
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French Redditor here. Back in the 90s, I used to travel quite frequently to the states for my job. I have always been on the chunky side and I used to call my trips to the United States “my six hours diet” because each time I arrived in the US, the so many fat people in the street made me feel like I was fit again.
Thank you America.
looks like baguette is healthy after all!
Romania can into US lol…
The thing is, some folks with obesity in the U.S are not just overweight, but more like literal human balls who can’t even walk for a stroll properly. I don’t recall seeing anyone with this level of obesity in Europe though.
Need a map that shows how many people have double the weight required to be counted as obese.
Romania, the Louisiana of Europe.
Aiii de pwula mea!
Romania is first in Europe! Once in a lifetime achievement. Eagerly waiting for alcohol consumption graphics and hoping we beat everyone there also.
A coffee and a cigarette for breakfast is working for France.
Walkable cities in Europe vs. urban spread in the US
When I was in school in France, I don’t recall anyone overweight, maybe a couple of chubby kids in a school of 700.
source and other relevant info, including tables:
https://brilliantmaps.com/obesity-rates-usa-v-europe/
edit: other users have pointed out to this source as well, with different values:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Overweight_and_obesity_-_BMI_statistics
They want Greenland to bring the average down
The problem in the USA is there are plenty of extremely fat people. There are other countries where the obesity rate is high but in the USA it is far more than that we can call diplomatically obesity. There are many people who are so extremely fat that they can’t walk.
r/portugalcykablyat
I originally created this map. You can see all the data here: https://brilliantmaps.com/obesity-rates-usa-v-europe/
The tiger of Europe strikes again 🐯?
It’s also not surprising that Romania is doing so bad, we have a culture of eating ’till you burst and showing wealth with every meal you have, so no salads cuz that’s for poor peasants, plus our favorite vegetable is pork.
So looking at the source data from the WHO it has Ireland at 21% while the map citing the WHO data says 30.8% now if I look for other sources Ireland seems to combine obesity and overweight into one category, which is stupid, so I did some searching and it looks like the 30.8% number for Ireland comes from here, https://www.eufic.org/en/healthy-living/article/europes-obesity-statistics-figures-trends-rates-by-country
What this post is telling me is Ireland needs to sort out it’s data gathering or statistics reporting as much as it does it’s obesity problems.
One important statistic to look at is the trend lines for obesity over the last 3-4 decades. Though Europe looks good now, as in many trends it is just 10-25 years behind the US. If we act now we may be able to save Europe from a similar health epidemic.
https://www.europeandatajournalism.eu/cp_data_news/europe-faces-obesity-epidemic-as-figure-almost-tripled-in-40-years/
Or you know… Novo Nordisk.
Obese being [BMI of 30 or above](https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmi-m.htm), I assume.
Can confirm. Am in Spain visiting family and everyone is so beautiful here….i work in New York and we ugly af there.
Wow the French are really slim we need to step up our game
Notice how the obesity rates fall in more progressive states and countries. This proves the necessity of affordable health care.
Damn 10% is really good for France, wonder how they done it
In France we don’t snack between meals, that’s the secret.
It’s a big taboo to snack on garbage and then leave a proper meal unfinished because we don’t have appetite anymore. I’ve noticed that in other cultures people eat throughout the day whenever they feel a bit hungry. In France you wait until mealtime to eat, even if you feel hungry. Many restaurants don’t even open outside of regular mealtimes.
What’s the story with that one state in the middle
I’d like to see comparison of obesity rates vs ultra processed foods intake in this map view. I would think there’s a high correlation between these two factors.
Good job France, but except for that … Europe is not far behind. And when the hell Poland got so fat?
Danish citizen here. Last time I was in Paris, I bought a baguette which I ate while walking. Then I spotted an elderly Parisian gentleman who gave me some angry looks. I looked around and saw people actually sitting down at the cafe, where I had bought the baguette and enjoying their meal sitting. From that day, I hate eating while walking, that was a good life lesson to actually relax and enjoy your food.
Surprised at Portugal, people aren’t all rail thin, but sure seem smaller than in the US.
Love from France 💕
Went to Italy last year and the only fat people I saw were tourists.
Car centrism is poison