Western Pacific · Country profile
Obesity in Fiji
39.0% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 26th highest of 199 countries.
39.0%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 36.2%–41.8%
Source: WHO
247 thousand
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
12.9%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#26
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Fiji in numbers
In 2024, about 39.0% of adults in Fiji were living with obesity — about 1 in 3 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 36.2% to 41.8%). That is roughly 247 thousand people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 26th highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s Western Pacific region (9.7%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 15.7%. Since then it has gone up by 23.3 percentage points — about 2.5 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 46 thousand to 247 thousand adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 48.8% compared with 28.8%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 12.9% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 1.6% in 1980 — around 32 thousand young people.
For context, 23.4% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 15.5% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 2,938 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Fiji has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 1986, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Fiji: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 9.5% to 28.8%, and women from 21.8% to 48.8%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 9.5% | 21.8% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 10.5% | 23.6% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 11.6% | 25.5% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 12.8% | 27.6% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 14.3% | 30.2% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 16.6% | 33.2% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 19.4% | 36.7% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 22.3% | 40.7% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 25.7% | 45.1% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 28.8% | 48.8% | 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 Fiji
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 1.6% to 14.4%, and girls from 1.6% to 11.3%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Fiji compared (2024)
What this meansHow Fiji’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Fiji39.0%
- Upper-middle income countries16.7%
- World16.2%
- Western Pacific (WHO region)9.7%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Fiji
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,520 calories a day in 1961 to 2,938 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Fiji
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 23. Saudi Arabia40.1%
- 24. Iraq39.7%
- 25. Barbados39.4%
- 26. Fiji39.0%
- 27. Panama37.7%
- 28. Mexico37.4%
- 28. Palestine37.4%
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