Child obesity level surpasses underweight cases for the first time

• In 2025, the global prevalence of obesity among school-age children and adolescents exceeded underweight for the first time. 

• This dramatic shift in the face of malnutrition jeopardizes the health and future potential of children, communities and nations.  

• The 2025 Child Nutrition Report – ‘Feeding Profit: How food environments are failing children’ – reveals how unhealthy food environments are contributing to the worldwide surge in overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.

• The report draws on data from over 190 countries.

• Obesity is a severe form of overweight and leads to a higher risk of developing insulin resistance and high blood pressure, as well as life-threatening diseases later in life, including type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers.

Key points of the report:

• One in 10 children aged 5 to 19 — 188 million worldwide — are now living with obesity, placing them at heightened risk of chronic diseases such as type-2 diabetes, heart conditions, and certain cancers.

• Obesity is a growing concern that can impact the health and development of children. Ultra-processed food is increasingly replacing fruits, vegetables and protein at a time when nutrition plays a critical role in children’s growth, cognitive development and mental health.

• Since 2000, the number underweight among five to 19-year-olds has dropped from nearly 13 per cent to 9.2 per cent.

• In the same period, obesity has tripled, from three per cent to 9.4 per cent. Today, obesity rates exceed underweight in every region except sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

• The situation is particularly acute in the Pacific Islands, where traditional diets have been displaced by cheap, energy-dense imported foods.

• High-income countries are not exempt: 27 per cent of children in Chile, and 21 per cent in both the United States and United Arab Emirates, are affected.

• Globally, one in five children and adolescents, or 391 million, are overweight, with nearly half now classified as obese.

• Children are considered overweight when they are significantly heavier than what is healthy for their age, sex and height.

Aggressive marketing to be blamed

• The report points to powerful commercial forces shaping these outcomes. Ultra-processed and fast foods, high in sugar, salt, unhealthy fats and additives, dominate children’s diets and are aggressively marketed, influencing children’s diets.

• In pursuit of profit, the industry leverages vast financial resources and deep political influence to resist policies aimed at creating healthier, more equitable food environments. 

• In a UNICEF poll of 64,000 young people across 170 countries, 75 per cent reported seeing ads for sugary drinks, snacks, or fast food in the previous week.

• About 60 per cent said the ads made them want to eat the products. Even in conflict-affected countries, 68 per cent of young people said they were exposed to these advertisements.

• These patterns, UNICEF warns, carry staggering economic consequences. 

• By 2035, the global cost of overweight and obesity levels is projected to exceed $4 trillion annually. In Peru alone, obesity-related health issues could cost over $210 billion across a generation.

• Some governments are taking action. Mexico — where sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods make up 40 per cent of children’s daily calories — has banned their sale in public schools, improving food environments for more than 34 million children.

Recommendations to transform children’s food environments:

• Implement the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent World Health Assembly resolutions to protect and promote breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding.

• Implement comprehensive, mandatory measures to transform food environments (school food environments, food marketing restrictions, food labelling, taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages and food reformulation).

• Implement comprehensive policies to improve the availability and affordability of locally produced nutritious foods for children and adolescents.

• Establish robust safeguards to protect public policy processes from interference by the ultra-processed food industry.

• Implement social and behaviour change initiatives that empower families and communities to claim their right to a healthy food environment.

• Strengthen social protection programmes to address income poverty and increase children’s access to nutritious and healthy diets.

• Engage young people in public policymaking on food justice by fostering youth-led advocacy.

• Strengthen global and national data and surveillance systems to monitor food environments, diets, and overweight among children and adolescents.