Knowledge Nugget: World Obesity Atlas 2026 – Why it matters for your UPSC exam

Key takeaways:

1. The Atlas presents a series of childhood obesity prevalence projections for the period 2025 to 2040. Estimates suggest that in this period, 20 million children in India will be living with obesity and 56 million will be either overweight or living with obesity. In the same period, children aged 5-19 years are projected to develop risk factors associated with high BMI.

2. In India, altogether 14.9 million children in the five to nine age groups and more than 26 million children in the 10-19 age bracket were overweight or obese in 2025. Worldwide, the atlas found that more than one in five (20.7 per cent) in the 5-19 age group are living with obesity or are overweight, an increase of 14.6 per cent since 2010.

3. Of the eight countries projected to have more than 10 million children with high BMI, China, India and the US each had over 10 million children living with obesity. China leads both categories, with 62 million children with high BMI and 33 million with only obesity, followed by India and the US (27 million high BMI; 13 million obesity).

4. Childhood obesity exposes the young population to similar risks of chronic illnesses as adults, including hypertension and cardiovascular disease. It is estimated that by 2040, over 57 million children will show early signs of cardiovascular disease (high triglycerides), while over 43 million will show signs of hypertension. The World Obesity Federation predicts that by 2040, a total of 507 million children will be living with obesity or be overweight.

Source: World obesity Atlas 2026

5. According to the report, 74 per cent of adolescents aged 11 to 17 fail to meet the recommended physical activity levels. Only 35.5 per cent of school-age children (primary and secondary) receive school meals. Children aged 6–10 consume an average of 0–50 ml of sugary drinks per day. Around 32.6 per cent of infants up to five months are breast-fed sub-optimally. About 13.4 per cent of women, aged 15–49, are exposed to high BMI. About 4.2 per cent of women between15 and 49 live with Type 2 diabetes.

6. The World Obesity Atlas shows that urgent, coordinated action is needed to protect India’s future generation. Stronger prevention policies, including healthier school food environment, protection from the marketing of unhealthy foods and fiscal measures such as taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages need to be framed. Early screening and care in primary health systems can also change this trajectory.

7. According to the Atlas, “overweight and obesity in childhood not only increase the risk of chronic disease in adulthood, but also increase the risk of developing such diseases before adulthood.” The risk of developing overweight in childhood is increased by a number of known factors, including mothers’ health status and health behaviours, early nutrition environments and inadequate physical activity.

8. The report emphasizes the need for interventions in school settings. For many children, school is the only place where they can reliably access healthy food, safe drinking water and opportunities for physical activity consistent with WHO recommendations. Obesity should be recognised as a chronic, complex disease and health systems should provide compassionate, accessible care for all ages.

What is obesity?

1. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), obesity is an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that poses health risks. School-aged children and adolescents — anyone between the ages of 5 and 19 years — are considered obese, if their BMI is two standard deviations more than the mean. BMI is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

2. In January 2025, a Lancet commission had proposed changes to the definition of obesity to introduce two new categories: ‘clinical obesity’ and ‘pre-clinical obesity’. The new definition included physical parameters like height, weight, waist circumference, muscle mass, and the functioning of various organs.

3. For a clinical obesity diagnosis, the physician will have to check for all kinds of signs and symptoms, such as breathlessness, wheezing, sleep apnoea, high triglyceride levels, metabolic dysfunctions, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, changes in reproductive system, heart failure, chronic fatigue, and knee and joint pain, among others. They may also consider how active a person is in their day-to-day life, before arriving at a diagnosis.

4. The new definition does away with the overweight category, adding instead a category called “pre-clinical obesity” where a person has excess body fat, but no associated ongoing illness. Like the diagnosis for clinical obesity, this requires meeting multiple physical parameters, and a physician to make assessments regarding organ function.

5. The Commission defines preclinical obesity as a physical attribute but not an illness. It says: “In some people it might represent an earlier stage of clinical obesity, whereas in other people it can be a phenotype with lower tendency to directly affect organ function.”

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Efforts to nudge Indian youngsters towards healthy dietary practices

1. Sugar Board in schools: Last year, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) directed affiliated schools to establish sugar boards to monitor and reduce sugar intake of children. Studies indicate that sugar constitutes 13 per cent of daily calorie intake for children aged four to 10 years, and 15 per cent for those aged 11 to 18 years, substantially exceeding the recommended limit of 5 per cent.

2. Economic Survey 2025-26 suggestions on ultra-processed foods (UPFs): UPFs are industrial formulations of food substances, mostly high in fat, sugar, and/or salt (HFSS). They are laden additives like stabilisers, emulsifiers, colorants and flavouring substances. In India, there has been a 40-fold increase in the sales of ultra-processed foods, increasing from $9 billion in 2006 to nearly $38 billion in 2019.

The Economic Survey suggested marketing restrictions, warning labels, and the highest tax slab with surcharges on these UPFs. The survey also suggests exploring measures such as a ban on advertising of UPF products between 6 am and 11 pm, citing examples of such marketing restrictions in countries such as Norway and the UK.

3. Fit India Movement: Launched in 2019, Fit India Movement is a nation-wide campaign to encourage citizens to take up physical activity and sports in their daily lives.

4. Eat Right India campaign: It was launched by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in 2018. It focuses on promoting a culture of safe, healthy, and sustainable food processes.

5. POSHAN Abhiyaan: Launched in 2018, POSHAN Abhiyaan is a flagship scheme to transform Bharat’s nutritional landscape. Mission Poshan 2.0, launched in 2023, seeks to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers. It focuses on diet diversity, food fortification, and popularizing use of millets.

Post Read Question

Consider the following statements:

1. WHO released the World Obesity Atlas 2026.

2. World obesity day is observed on March 4.

3. The theme of World Obesity Day 2026 is 8 Billion Reasons to Act on Obesity.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2, and 3

(Sources: Obesity on the rise, high levels of undernutrition persist in India: What a new study says, India may have second-largest overweight or obese population by 2050: What new studies reveal, India overtakes US in childhood obesity, second only to China)

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