World’s most obese countries – ranked

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.

1. Nauru
2. Palau
3. Cook Islands (New Zealand)
4. Marshall Islands
5. Tuvalu
6. Niue (New Zealand)
7. Kiribati
8. Tonga
9. Samoa
10. 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