South-East Asia · Country profile
Obesity in North Korea
12.0% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 161st highest of 199 countries.
12.0%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 6.4%–19.2%
Source: WHO
2.5 million
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
9.5%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#161
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of North Korea in numbers
In 2024, about 12.0% of adults in North Korea were living with obesity — about 1 in 8 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 6.4% to 19.2%). That is roughly 2.5 million people aged 18 and over.
That is lower than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 161st highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s South-East Asia region (8.3%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 1.3%. Since then it has gone up by 10.7 percentage points — about 9.2 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 128 thousand to 2.5 million adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 14.7% compared with 9.2%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 9.5% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 0.5% in 1980 — around 471 thousand young people.
Obesity is not the only weight problem here: 9.8% of adults are underweight (BMI under 18.5). Health experts call this mix the “double burden” of malnutrition.
For context, 13.6% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 27.0% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 1,981 calories per person per day in 2018. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in North Korea: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 0.6% to 9.2%, and women from 1.8% to 14.7%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 0.6% | 1.8% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 0.8% | 2.3% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 1.1% | 3.0% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 1.5% | 3.8% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 2.2% | 4.7% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 3.1% | 5.9% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 4.3% | 7.5% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 5.7% | 9.6% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 7.5% | 12.2% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 9.2% | 14.7% | 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 North Korea
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 0.6% to 11.4%, and girls from 0.4% to 7.4%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
North Korea compared (2024)
What this meansHow North Korea’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- World16.2%
- North Korea12.0%
- Low income countries10.1%
- South-East Asia (WHO region)8.3%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in North Korea
What this meansThe food available per person went from 1,828 calories a day in 1961 to 1,981 in 2018. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- North Korea
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 158. Gambia12.4%
- 159. Benin12.2%
- 159. Congo12.2%
- 161. North Korea12.0%
- 162. Indonesia11.8%
- 163. Djibouti11.7%
- 164. Senegal11.6%
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