Western Pacific · Country profile
Obesity in Mongolia
25.1% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 84th highest of 199 countries.
25.1%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 21.9%–28.4%
Source: WHO
559 thousand
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
8.1%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#84
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Mongolia in numbers
In 2024, about 25.1% of adults in Mongolia were living with obesity — about 1 in 4 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 21.9% to 28.4%). That is roughly 559 thousand people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 84th highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s Western Pacific region (9.7%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 6.7%. Since then it has gone up by 18.4 percentage points — about 3.7 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 49 thousand to 559 thousand adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 26.9% compared with 22.8%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 8.1% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 3.6% in 1980 — around 85 thousand young people.
For context, 15.0% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 27.5% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 3,031 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 Mongolia: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 4.9% to 22.8%, and women from 8.5% to 26.9%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 4.9% | 8.5% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 5.2% | 9.4% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 5.7% | 10.4% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 6.3% | 11.8% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 7.4% | 13.6% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 9.4% | 15.9% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 12.5% | 18.7% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 16.0% | 21.7% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 19.7% | 24.6% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 22.8% | 26.9% | 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 Mongolia
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 3.7% to 10.3%, and girls from 3.6% to 5.7%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Mongolia compared (2024)
What this meansHow Mongolia’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Mongolia25.1%
- World16.2%
- Lower-middle income countries12.0%
- Western Pacific (WHO region)9.7%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Mongolia
What this meansThe food available per person went from 1,964 calories a day in 1961 to 3,031 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Mongolia
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 81. Slovakia26.1%
- 81. Tunisia26.1%
- 83. Canada26.0%
- 84. Mongolia25.1%
- 85. Armenia25.0%
- 86. Colombia24.9%
- 87. Iran24.6%
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