Most nations off track to meet target to halt childhood obesity: Study

The World Obesity Federation, a global organisation focused exclusively on obesity and a lead partner to international agencies, including the World Health Organization, has warned that most countries, including India, are off the track to meet the 2030 global target to halt the rise in childhood obesity.

The target was set for 2025, which was extended to 2030 after most countries failed to achieve it.

Estimates by the World Obesity Federation (WOF) suggest that by 2040, 20 million children in India will be living with obesity, and 56 million will be living with overweight and obesity.

At least 120 million school-age children across the globe are expected to have early signs of chronic disease such as hypertension and cardiovascular ailments due to overweight and obesity by 2040, it said.

According to the World Obesity Atlas 2026 released by the WOF on World Obesity Day on Wednesday, 14.921 million children from the age of 5-9 years and more than 26.402 million children from the age of 10-19 in India were overweight or obese in 2025.

The top 10 countries alone account for over 200 million school-age children – 5-19 years – with high body mass index (BMI). By the end of 2025, eight countries were projected to have more than 10 million children with high BMI, while China, India and the United States each had more than 10 million children living with obesity, the Atlas stated. China leads both categories, with 62 million children with high BMI and 33 million with only obesity, followed by India (41 million high BMI; 14 million obesity) and the US (27 million high BMI; 13 million obesity).

In India, from 2025 to 2040, children aged 5-19 years with disease indicators attributed to high BMI is projected to rise substantially, including BMI-attributed hypertension increasing from 2.99 million to 4.21 million; hyperglycaemia from 1.39 million to 1.91 million; high triglycerides from 4.39 million to 6.07 million; and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), previously known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), from 8.39 million to 11.88 million.