Europe · Country profile
Obesity in Estonia
20.3% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 120th highest of 199 countries.
20.3%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 16.3%–24.5%
Source: WHO
275 thousand
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
11.4%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#120
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Estonia in numbers
In 2024, about 20.3% of adults in Estonia were living with obesity — about 1 in 5 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 16.3% to 24.5%). That is roughly 275 thousand people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 120th 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 12.7%. Since then it has gone up by 7.6 percentage points. In people, that is a change from about 149 thousand to 275 thousand adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Men and women are affected about equally: 20.1% of men and 20.0% of women.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 11.4% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 1.6% in 1980 — around 26 thousand young people.
For context, 8.8% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 15.9% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 3,287 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Estonia: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 8.1% to 20.1%, and women from 16.0% to 20.0%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 8.1% | 16.0% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 9.3% | 15.8% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 10.8% | 15.8% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 12.7% | 16.3% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 15.4% | 17.7% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 18.2% | 19.3% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 20.0% | 20.3% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 20.5% | 20.6% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 20.4% | 20.3% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 20.1% | 20.0% | 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 Estonia
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 1.5% to 13.9%, and girls from 1.8% to 8.7%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Estonia compared (2024)
What this meansHow Estonia’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%
- Estonia20.3%
- World16.2%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Estonia
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,488 calories a day in 1992 to 3,287 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Estonia
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 117. Belarus20.6%
- 117. Germany20.6%
- 120. Bulgaria20.3%
- 120. Estonia20.3%
- 122. Norway20.2%
- 123. Botswana19.8%
- 123. Slovenia19.8%
Last updated