Developing countries need to urgently deal with an obesity “time bomb” ticking away in their economies, and which is already dragging down growth and driving up health costs.

The World Health Organization says that in 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight and 650 million were obese, with the worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly tripling since 1975. Mathias Helble and Azusa Sato investigate.

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https://www.adb.org/publications/wealthy-unhealthy-overweight-and-obesity-asia-and-pacific-trends-costs-and-policies

About the authors

Mathias Helble is a former senior economist and co-chair of the Asian Development Bank Institute’s Research Department in Tokyo.

Azusa Sato is a health specialist at the Asian Development Bank in Manila.

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