ddhr.org - World fatness

World fatness (7)

May 15, 2007

This little pictograph shows the top 27 fattest countries in the world, based on the percentage of each country's population above the age of 15 with a body mass index greater than 30. The information used to develop the chart was obtained from this Wikipedia image. Some interesting notes:

The U.S. is in first place. USA! USA!
Hungary is in the top 10. Heh.
Japan and Korea, despite being major world powers and population centers, are quite low.
China is conspicuously missing from the chart, which either means there was no data from China or Chinese people are in fact all skinny.

(via Neatorama) #health

Comments:

Payal

2007-05-15 22:09:35

When we went to Mexico, the tour guide told us that an average Mayan eats about 40 corn tortillas / day. Do you think it has any truth to it? I mean, Mexico is 2nd on that obesity chart. I'm surprised to Czech Republic. All the Czechs I know are really skinny. Dang

grey

2007-05-16 12:23:20

Thank you for linking to my site.

-Grey

Dave

2007-05-16 16:00:09

I was surprised to see the Slovak Republic in the number 4 spot. All the Slovaks I know are ... actually, I've never met a Slovak in my life. I couldn't even point to the country on a map. I'll take a wild guess and say they have something to do with the "Slav" in the former nation of Czechoslovakia. I could be wrong.

Most of the countries on the list make sense. They're rich and eat lots of food full of carbohydrates (tortillas) and fat (red meat, Ho-Ho's, etc.). The countries that aren't on the list are also interesting:

There are no African countries on the list. This isn't too surprising, but it's still kinda ... surprising.
There are no Muslim countries on the list, except Turkey (which many Muslims countries would argue is barely Muslim). This either means Muslim dictatorships starve their citizens while lining the pockets of the already wealthy, or Muslims have found the much sought after secret to successful weight loss.

Grey: No problem. Thanks for making a cool pictograph.

Wendy

2007-05-17 09:19:32

I visited Kenya and I remember talking about cancer & heart disease. The Kenayans told me that cancer & heart disease are rich man diseases. People in Africa rarely died from these diseases, but often suffered from HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, diptheria, etc.; diseases we are inoculated against. So I wonder if these other countries that didn't make the list were affected by the same "obesity" diseases the USA* is typically afflicted against - type II diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc. Subsequently, I wonder if Kenya and other countries not in the top 10 have a lower incidence of these "rich man" diseases.

*random - how many people write USA as opposed to US?

Dave

2007-05-17 16:43:07

Homer Simpson says, "USA! USA!" He's my inspiration.

dpeach

2007-05-28 16:57:12

Payal said that they were told the average Mayan eats 40 tortillas a day. I live in Maya country and could believe that number. I am not sure about the rest of Mexico, but the village women here are categorically obese. While you rarely see a Mayan man overweight.

Payal

2007-06-21 00:13:28

I say US only because USA makes me sound like an FOB (fresh off boat).

dpeach: thanks for not making me look like an idiot.