Western Pacific · Country profile
Obesity in Naoero
71.4% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 4th highest of 199 countries.
71.4%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 68.0%–74.6%
Source: WHO
5,000
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
30.5%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#4
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Naoero in numbers
In 2024, about 71.4% of adults in Naoero were living with obesity, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 68.0% to 74.6%). That is roughly 5,000 people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 4th highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s Western Pacific region (9.7%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 64.0%. Since then it has gone up by 7.4 percentage points. In people, that is a change from about 3,000 to 5,000 adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Men and women are affected about equally: 71.4% of men and 71.4% of women.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 30.5% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 7.0% in 1980 — around 1,000 young people.
For context, 25.3% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 35.5% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 3,082 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Naoero has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 2007, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Naoero: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 62.2% to 71.4%, and women from 67.1% to 71.4%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 62.2% | 67.1% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 64.2% | 67.6% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 65.5% | 68.1% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 65.5% | 68.2% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 64.7% | 68.2% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 64.5% | 68.3% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 65.6% | 68.7% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 67.5% | 69.6% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 69.6% | 70.6% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 71.4% | 71.4% | 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 Naoero
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 6.9% to 37.5%, and girls from 7.1% to 22.8%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Naoero compared (2024)
What this meansHow Naoero’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Naoero71.4%
- 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 Naoero
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,981 calories a day in 2019 to 3,082 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Naoero
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 1. American Samoa75.9%
- 2. Tonga73.8%
- 3. Cook Islands72.4%
- 4. Naoero71.4%
- 5. Tokelau70.7%
- 6. Niue66.9%
- 7. Tuvalu65.1%
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