One in four Icelanders obese by 2025
Almost a quarter of Icelanders may be obese by 2025, according to figures from the World Obesity Federation (WOF).
Recent WOF figures indicate that 22% of the Icelandic population were obese in 2014, putting Iceland in 76th place on the WOF’s 192-country list.
Assuming similar trends over the next ten years as in previous years, the WOF predicts that 23.7% of Icelanders will be obese by 2025. Obesity, in the context of these figures, is defined as have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 30.
59,000 Icelanders are currently thought to suffer from obesity, including 4,000 children.
“There is still considerable prejudice about obesity and treatment has been lacking,” explains Erla Gerður Sveinsdóttir, GP and expert in public health.
“We are not doing anything like enough,” she says. “Obesity is not treated as a disease in Iceland despite having been defined as such for decades. We are a small and well-informed society and we could be world pioneers if we prioritise this issue.”
