More than half of adults will be overweight by 2050, study says

More than half of adults and a third of children and young people worldwide will be overweight or obese by 2050 which will pose an "unparalleled threat" of early death, disease and enormous strain on healthcare systems, a report warns.

- Andrew Gregory Kat Lay

Global failures in the response to the growing obesity crisis over the past three decades have led to a staggering increase in the numbers affected, according to the analysis published in the Lancet.

There are now 2.11 billion adults aged 25 or above and 493 million children and young people aged five to 24 who are overweight or obese, the study shows, up from 731 million and 198 million respectively in 1990.

Without urgent policy reform and action, the report says, more than half of those aged 25 or above worldwide (3.8 billion) and about a third of all children and young people (746 million) are forecast to be affected by 2050. The research predicts a particularly alarming rise (121%) in obesity among children and younger people, with the number living with obesity alone set to hit 360 million by 2050.