Obesity in adults

Data from the Scottish Health Survey show that for people aged 16 to 64 years, there has been an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity* between the three surveys in 1995, 1998 and 2003.

Table 1: Proportion of the population overweight and obese by sex, SHS 1995, 1998, 2003

	Men			Women
	1995	1998	2003	1995	1998	2003
Overweight	40%	42%	42%	30%	31%	33%
Obese	16%	19%	22%	17%	21%	24%
Overweight or obese	56%	61%	64%	47%	52%	57%

Source: Scottish Health Surveys 1995, 1998 and 2003

Obesity increases with age, at least until the age of 65 or so, and the prevalence of obesity is greater in women than in men:

Table 2: Proportion of the population obese by age and sex, SHS 2003

	Age (years)
% obese	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-65	65-74	75+
Men	7.5%	16.2%	24.4%	27.5%	33.3%	27.3%	18.0%
Women	13.4%	20.5%	25.5%	26.4%	31.9%	40.5%	26.7%

Source: Scottish Health Survey, 2003

* - overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of between 25 and 30, and obesity as a BMI over 30 (where BMI = weight (Kg)/ [height (m)] squared