A global ranking of the world’s most obese countries, drawing on the latest data available from the World Health Organisation.

Obesity has been described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a “global ticking time-bomb with huge potential negative economic and health impacts, especially for the poor.”
In 2020, the World Bank released a report on the state of obesity around the globe. The report draws on data collected during a World Health Organisation study in 2016 about the prevalence of obesity among adults.
The key findings and insights from the new report, along with the complete obesity ranking from 2016, can be found below.
10 most obese countries in the world
These are the 10 most obese countries in the world.
- Nauru
- Palau
- Cook Islands (New Zealand)
- Marshall Islands
- Tuvalu
- Niue (New Zealand)
- Kiribati
- Tonga
- Samoa
- Micronesia
Key findings from the study
- Nauru is the world’s most obese nation with 88.5% of its adult population classified as obese.
- Vietnam is the world’s least obese nation with 18.3% of its adult population classified as obese.
- As of 2016, an estimated 44% of adults worldwide – more than 2 billion people – are overweight.
- Over 70% of them live in low- or middle-income countries, which dispels the myth that obesity is a problem found only in high-income countries.
- There are over 4 million obesity-related deaths every year.
- Since 1975, the prevalence of obesity has tripled.
- The 10 most obese countries in the world are all located in the South Pacific.
- The estimated annual economic cost of obesity in the USA is $89-212 billion.

World’s most obese countries – complete ranking
The table ranks the world’s countries by the prevalence (%) of obesity among adults over 18 years old.
Some countries may have been omitted due to insufficient data.
Rank | Country | % |
---|---|---|
1 | Nauru | 88.5 |
2 | Palau | 85.1 |
3 | Cook Islands | 84.7 |
4 | Marshall Islands | 83.5 |
5 | Tuvalu | 81.9 |
6 | Niue | 80.0 |
7 | Kiribati | 78.7 |
8 | Tonga | 78.5 |
9 | Samoa | 77.6 |
10 | Micronesia | 75.9 |
11 | Kuwait | 73.4 |
12 | Qatar | 71.7 |
13 | Saudi Arabia | 69.7 |
14 | Jordan | 69.6 |
15 | Lebanon | 67.9 |
16 | USA | 67.9 |
17 | UAE | 67.8 |
18 | Libya | 66.8 |
19 | Turkey | 66.8 |
20 | Malta | 66.4 |
21 | Bahrain | 65.8 |
22 | New Zealand | 65.6 |
23 | Mexico | 64.9 |
24 | Iraq | 64.6 |
25 | Australia | 64.5 |
26 | Bahamas | 64.4 |
27 | Israel | 64.3 |
28 | Canada | 64.1 |
29 | Fiji | 63.8 |
30 | Andorra | 63.7 |
31 | UK | 63.7 |
32 | Egypt | 63.5 |
33 | Venezuela | 63.4 |
34 | Chile | 63.1 |
35 | Uruguay | 62.9 |
36 | Argentina | 62.7 |
37 | Oman | 62.6 |
38 | Czechia | 62.3 |
39 | Greece | 62.3 |
40 | Algeria | 62.0 |
41 | Bulgaria | 61.7 |
42 | Costa Rica | 61.6 |
43 | Hungary | 61.6 |
44 | Iran | 61.6 |
45 | Spain | 61.6 |
46 | Tunisia | 61.6 |
47 | Syria | 61.4 |
48 | Dominican Rep. | 61.2 |
49 | Ireland | 60.6 |
50 | Morocco | 60.4 |
51 | Dominica | 60.3 |
52 | El Salvador | 59.9 |
53 | Croatia | 59.6 |
54 | Lithuania | 59.6 |
55 | Belgium | 59.5 |
56 | France | 59.5 |
57 | Belarus | 59.4 |
58 | Montenegro | 59.4 |
59 | Cyprus | 59.1 |
60 | Iceland | 59.1 |
61 | Colombia | 59.0 |
62 | Suriname | 58.9 |
63 | Panama | 58.8 |
64 | Luxembourg | 58.7 |
65 | Cuba | 58.5 |
66 | Italy | 58.5 |
67 | Ukraine | 58.4 |
68 | Norway | 58.3 |
69 | Poland | 58.3 |
70 | Nicaragua | 58.2 |
71 | North Macedonia | 58.1 |
72 | Finland | 57.9 |
73 | Latvia | 57.8 |
74 | Netherlands | 57.8 |
75 | Albania | 57.7 |
76 | Romania | 57.7 |
77 | Peru | 57.5 |
78 | Portugal | 57.5 |
79 | Russia | 57.1 |
80 | Serbia | 57.1 |
81 | Vanuatu | 57.1 |
82 | Germany | 56.8 |
83 | Brazil | 56.5 |
84 | Sweden | 56.4 |
85 | Slovakia | 56.2 |
86 | Bolivia | 56.1 |
87 | Slovenia | 56.1 |
88 | Ecuador | 56.0 |
89 | Guatemala | 55.9 |
90 | Estonia | 55.8 |
91 | Honduras | 55.8 |
92 | Mongolia | 55.6 |
93 | Jamaica | 55.5 |
94 | Denmark | 55.4 |
95 | St. Vincent & Gren. | 55.0 |
96 | Solomon Islands | 55.0 |
97 | Haiti | 54.9 |
98 | Belize | 54.8 |
99 | Armenia | 54.4 |
100 | Austria | 54.3 |
101 | Switzerland | 54.3 |
102 | Georgia | 54.2 |
103 | South Africa | 53.8 |
104 | Azerbaijan | 53.6 |
105 | Kazakhstan | 53.6 |
106 | Paraguay | 53.5 |
107 | Bosnia & Herz. | 53.3 |
108 | Papua New Guinea | 52.9 |
109 | Barbados | 52.4 |
110 | St. Kitts & Nevis | 52.3 |
111 | Moldova | 51.8 |
112 | Turkmenistan | 51.8 |
113 | Grenada | 51.4 |
114 | Guyana | 49.4 |
115 | Yemen | 48.8 |
116 | Kyrgyzstan | 48.3 |
117 | Uzbekistan | 48.2 |
118 | St. Lucia | 48.1 |
119 | Antigua & Barbuda | 48.0 |
120 | Trinidad & Tobago | 46.0 |
121 | Tajikistan | 45.3 |
122 | Botswana | 43.4 |
123 | Malaysia | 42.5 |
124 | Brunei Darussalam | 41.2 |
125 | Namibia | 40.6 |
126 | Gabon | 40.2 |
127 | Lesotho | 38.7 |
128 | Djibouti | 38.6 |
129 | Eswatini | 38.4 |
130 | Zimbabwe | 38.2 |
131 | Seychelles | 36.8 |
132 | Sao Tome & Principe | 35.4 |
133 | Cabo Verde | 34.8 |
134 | Mauritania | 34.4 |
135 | Cameroon | 33.6 |
136 | Thailand | 32.6 |
137 | North Korea | 32.4 |
138 | China | 32.3 |
139 | Mauritius | 32.3 |
140 | Ghana | 32.0 |
141 | Gambia | 31.9 |
142 | Singapore | 31.8 |
143 | Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) | 31.6 |
144 | Congo | 30.9 |
145 | Liberia | 30.9 |
146 | Maldives | 30.6 |
147 | South Korea | 30.3 |
148 | Guinea-Bissau | 29.9 |
149 | Benin | 29.5 |
150 | Nigeria | 28.9 |
151 | Sudan (former) | 28.9 |
152 | Pakistan | 28.4 |
153 | Senegal | 28.4 |
154 | Somalia | 28.4 |
155 | Indonesia | 28.2 |
156 | Mali | 28.1 |
157 | Togo | 28.1 |
158 | Zambia | 27.8 |
159 | Sierra Leone | 27.7 |
160 | Tanzania | 27.7 |
161 | Philippines | 27.6 |
162 | Angola | 27.5 |
163 | Japan | 27.2 |
164 | Bhutan | 27.1 |
165 | Comoros | 27.1 |
166 | Equatorial Guinea | 26.7 |
167 | Guinea | 26.6 |
168 | Mozambique | 26.4 |
169 | Central African Rep. | 26.2 |
170 | Kenya | 25.5 |
171 | Laos | 25.4 |
172 | DR Congo | 25.3 |
173 | Rwanda | 25.1 |
174 | Myanmar | 24.8 |
175 | Madagascar | 23.9 |
176 | Malawi | 23.4 |
177 | Sri Lanka | 23.3 |
178 | Burkina Faso | 23.2 |
179 | Chad | 23.1 |
180 | Afghanistan | 23.0 |
181 | Uganda | 22.4 |
182 | Burundi | 22.2 |
183 | Eritrea | 22.0 |
184 | Niger | 22.0 |
185 | Cambodia | 21.7 |
186 | Timor-Leste | 21.6 |
187 | Nepal | 21.0 |
188 | Ethiopia | 20.9 |
189 | Bangladesh | 20.0 |
190 | India | 19.7 |
191 | Vietnam | 18.3 |
Source: World Health Organisation