Oct. 24 (UPI) — Obesity has become one of the leading threats to public health in Latin America and the Caribbean, undermining well-being, productivity and the sustainability of health systems.
According to the World Obesity Atlas 2025, 67.5% of adults in Latin America and 37.6% of children and adolescents ages 5 to 19 are overweight or obese.
In Chile, 42% of adults over 20 are obese — the highest rate in South America — followed by Argentina at 39% and Paraguay and Uruguay at 36%.
In terms of body mass index, an indicator of excess weight, Chile leads at 83% of adults whose BMI places them in the overweight or obese category, followed by Argentina, Paraguay and Peru at 73%.
The rise in obesity across Latin America is attributed to a combination of structural and commercial factors.
According to the report, the region’s food systems have shifted toward diets dominated by ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks. Their sale has been driven by the expansion of large corporations that spend billions on targeted advertising, including to children and adolescents.
This trend has reduced consumption of fresh, locally produced foods, creating an environment that fosters excess weight and obesity from an early age.
The Atlas warns that poorly planned cities and unprepared health systems are worsening the problem.
Cities with few spaces for physical activity and health systems ill-equipped to prevent or treat obesity have contributed to more than two-thirds of the region’s adults living with excess weight. In addition, social stigma and medical bias toward people with obesity persist, limiting access to adequate care, it says.
Carlos Olivares, a physician who specializes in obesity, told UPI that the population’s lack of education on nutrition and health also helps explain the problem.
“In Latin America, junk food has two main allies: the low purchasing power of millions who see it as an affordable option and the lack of time to cook. This creates family environments that are ideal for obesity,” Olivares said.
The Atlas notes that only 7% of countries worldwide have health systems prepared to address the condition.
In Latin America, two-thirds of countries have not implemented even two of the five key policies: taxes on sugary drinks, subsidies for healthy foods, advertising restrictions, promotion of physical activity and regulation of fats and sugars, according to the Atlas.
The World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization have warned that the region has the highest obesity prevalence in the world. Since 1990, adult overweight rates have risen by 52%, and projections show they could reach 73.2% by 2030.
To address the crisis, the WHO is promoting the Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity, approved at the 75th World Health Assembly. Nine Latin American countries are participating as pioneers: Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. The participating nations aim to reduce the prevalence of childhood and adult obesity through multisectoral measures.
The World Obesity Atlas 2025 projects that by 2030, about three in four adults in the Americas — Latin America, the Caribbean and North America — will have a high BMI: 73% of men and 75% of women. It is among the highest figures of any WHO region.
The region also ranks among those with the most premature deaths and years lived in poor health linked to high BMI, due to type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease, strokes and certain cancers.
