A third of adults in world 'are overweight or obese'

A report by the Overseas Development Institute has found that over-consumption of food linked to increased prosperity in the developing world was largely behind the growing obesity crisis.

According to the report:

• The percentage of adults who were overweight or obese grew from 23% to 34% between 1980 and 2008
• Some 904 million people in developing countries were classed as overweight or obese in 2008, almost four times the 250 million in 1980

• The number of people who were overweight or obese in high-income countries increased by 1.7 times over the same period
• At the same time, under-nourishment is still a problem for hundreds of millions of people

Read: Action called as obesity crisis grows globally

More than a third of all adults across the world are overweight or obese, a report from a UK think-tank has revealed, leading to calls for governments to do more to tackle the growing crisis.

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) said that the number of people affected in the developing world almost quadrupled between 1980 and 2008 to nearly one billion.

In the UK some 64% of adults are overweight or obese, classed as having a body mass index greater than 25.

The ODI warned that changing diets and over-consumption of food linked to increased prosperity in the developing world was largely behind the change.