54% of adults in OECD countries suffer from obesity or overweight, an important health risk factor that could be effectively combated with a preventive strategy with long-term benefits and “at a low cost,” says an OECD report.
The Health Panorama compares key indicators on the health of the population and the performance of health systems in the 38 member countries of the OECD and its partners, among which it confirms that women continue to live longer on average than men (5.2 years longer, although the gap is reducing) and that public spending on health is increasing compared to the time before covid (an average of 9.3% of GDP).
“Women (83.7 years on average at birth) live longer than men (78.5 years), but they also spend more years in poor health (6.3 years after age 60, compared to 5 years for men),” the report states.
For men, the main causes of potential years of life lost are external (suicides, accidents and violence) and, for women, cancer is the main cause.
The report places obesity (body mass index over 30) and overweight (over 25) as one of the main public health concerns. Its rates continue to increase in more than 80% of OECD countries.
In the case of obesity, there was, on average, an increase of 6 percentage points in the last two decades (2003-2023), going from 13% of the adult population to 19%, based on data that study participants provided about themselves.
The United States (34.5%) and Chile (30.7%) lead the obesity ranking.
The document warns that this alone has a considerable economic cost, representing approximately 8% of total health spending and 3.3% of GDP in OECD countries. Some diseases such as diabetes and certain cardiovascular ailments are associated with high weight.
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54% of adults in OECD countries are obese or overweight
Also to reduce other risk factors such as tobacco (15% of adults on average still smoke daily) and alcohol (27% of OECD adults have consumed excessively at least once a month), the group known as the rich countries considers that there is room for improvement to dedicate more resources to prevention actions.
A healthy diet and regular exercise are two of the axes pointed out by the report to maintain good health and reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases.
If a prevention strategy is reinforced, the return in tax savings would also be considerable, the authors add.
Regarding air pollution, another of the four risk factors, Chile appeared as the OECD country most exposed to what is known as fine particles (PM2.5).
Switzerland, with 84.3 years of average life expectancy in the OECD group -very close to Spain with 84-, leads a ranking that includes men and women and in which Mexico is the last with 75.5 years on average, below the 81.1 years of the OECD.
Colombia was the country that led the number of preventable deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, with 419.
“In total, there were more than 3 million premature deaths in 2023 among people under 75 years of age that could have been prevented through better prevention and health interventions,” the report estimates.
Regarding health expenditures, OECD countries dedicated an average of 9.3% of their GDP to health in 2024 (a figure higher than the 8.8% before the pandemic). The United States spends the most (17.2% of GDP).
With information from EFE
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