Back in the good old days, when feeding meant chasing buffalo herds with spears, and food and exercise were intertwined. And the more you sweat from tracking, killing, and fetching food, the more a feast could be expected to enjoy. But modern society has changed all that. Initially there was agriculture, then factory farming, and today such a complex and bizarre system. Human talent has outsourced the acquisition, preparation and manufacture of food to an unprecedented degree. And along with countless other trends, such as the explosion of service industry jobs that require almost no physical activity, is created the perfect storm to disconnect diet and physical health from everyday life. The 10 countries featured in this selection represent the worst scenarios for obesity in 2014. These high global rates, correlated with the latest Social Progress Index, locate where population escalation strives to maintain weight at a distance around the planet. Source: prozipcodes.com
10. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO – 30% OF POPULATION
Recent studies by the Caribbean Institute of Food and Nutrition show the growing obesity in this country, particularly among children, which has exploded in a short time that just coincides with the rise of the fast food industry in this region of the world. Moreover, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg, as there are estimates of $ 5 billion a year in obesity medical costs in the world’s fattest Caribbean country.
9. VENEZUELA – 30.8% OF POPULATION
At least to ease the problem of obesity, President Maduro embarked on a national obesity campaign for childbirth last January and there are new government agencies charged with overseeing dietary guidelines in places where diet is most at risk, such as in schools.
8. UNITED STATES – 31.8% OF POPULATION
Probably the birthplace of fast food’s. With a media influence for thinness, and sugar addiction in the world, the fitness of this country remains a stark paradox. Consumer and political markets bounce around both sides of the issue, but if the country is making progress, time will respond.
7. MEXICO – 32.8% OF THE POPULATION
This country’s weight problem began in the 1980s, when processed food supplanted traditional whole grains and vegetables in Mexico’s food market. Currently 7 out of 10 Mexicans are overweight, and 3 out of 10 are clinically obese. But the Mexican Congress has been more aggressive in taking action than most countries, lately passing a variety of anti-fast food laws in the form of sin taxes, not unlike alcohol and tobacco; as a 5% tax on packaged foods with at least 275 calories per 100 g, and an extra weight on every liter of sugar saturated drink.
6. SOUTH AFRICA – 33.5% OF POPULATION
The rise in Westernized lifestyles has made it the only sub-Saharan African country with a serious weight problem, but trends suggest that the southern continent will see dramatic obesity-related disease rates rise over the next 2 decades. This goes hand in hand with why fast food markets are so wildly successful in this country; Cheap, fast food is a significant contributing factor in the worrying weight trends in South Africa.
5. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – 33.7% OF POPULATION
Last year, in a bizarre campaign in a city as opulent as Dubai, the government launched a 30-day weight challenge that literally rewarded weight loss with gold. Competitors would earn 2 grams of solid gold, worth about $ 90, for every 2 kilograms they lost to fight obesity.
4. JORDAN – 34.3% OF THE POPULATION
A 2010 report by the University of Jordan indicates that Jordan’s adult female obesity rate is close to 60%, nearly double that of men. And it seems that the country’s gender traditions perpetuate a particular culture of bad fitness under Coca-Colonization.
3. EGYPT – 34.6% OF POPULATION
Like much of the Middle East, the cultural appreciation of overweight, particularly in women, leaves the country with one of the highest obesity rates in the world. Here, fast food advertising feeds on the culture in a big way, 10% of Egyptians drink 5 or more cans of soda a day.
2. SAUDI ARABIA – 35.2% OF THE POPULATION
Saudi conservative culture tends to distance itself from physical activity for women. Even the most difficult segregationists in the Persian Gulf cannot deny that 37 percent of the country’s women experience overweight-related health problems.
1. KUWAIT – 42.8% OF THE POPULATION
When American troops arrived in Kuwait during the first Gulf War, so did American fast food. And then it spread like a virus, and most of the country’s citizens lack the cultural basis to appreciate the severity of the poor quality and low nutritional value of this type of food. Kuwait’s oil boom completely transformed the country; It quickly brought the wealth, infrastructure, and western character, but not the cultural foundation to distinguish McDonald’s and Burger King from fine dining. The result is an uncomfortably close obesity rate of 1 in 2 people, with Kuwait being the leading position in the selection of the 10 most obese countries in the world.
