Europe · Country profile
Obesity in Belgium
20.8% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 116th highest of 199 countries.
20.8%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 17.4%–24.5%
Source: WHO
2.2 million
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
7.3%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#116
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Belgium in numbers
In 2024, about 20.8% of adults in Belgium were living with obesity — about 1 in 5 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 17.4% to 24.5%). That is roughly 2.2 million people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 116th highest out of 199 countries. It is about level with the average for WHO’s Europe region (20.9%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 10.8%. Since then it has gone up by 10.0 percentage points. In people, that is a change from about 876 thousand to 2.2 million adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 22.0% compared with 19.7%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 7.3% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 2.0% in 1980 — around 146 thousand young people.
For context, 6.7% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 25.4% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 3,921 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Belgium has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 2009, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Belgium: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 8.4% to 19.7%, and women from 12.7% to 22.0%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 8.4% | 12.7% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 9.5% | 12.9% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 10.8% | 13.2% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 12.3% | 13.8% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 14.2% | 14.9% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 16.1% | 16.1% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 17.4% | 17.4% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 18.0% | 18.8% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 18.8% | 20.4% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 19.7% | 22.0% | 16.2% |
Age-standardized WHO estimates. Shaded bands show the 95% uncertainty range.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Children & teens (5–19) with obesity in Belgium
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 2.3% to 8.7%, and girls from 1.7% to 5.8%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Belgium compared (2024)
What this meansHow Belgium’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- High income countries24.7%
- Europe (WHO region)20.9%
- Belgium20.8%
- World16.2%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Belgium
What this meansThe food available per person went from 3,715 calories a day in 2000 to 3,921 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Belgium
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 113. Kazakhstan21.1%
- 113. Mauritius21.1%
- 115. Bosnia and Herzegovina21.0%
- 116. Belgium20.8%
- 117. Afghanistan20.6%
- 117. Belarus20.6%
- 117. Germany20.6%
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