Eastern Mediterranean · Country profile
Obesity in Pakistan
24.5% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 88th highest of 199 countries.
24.5%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 21.4%–27.6%
Source: WHO
33.6 million
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
8.0%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#88
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Pakistan in numbers
In 2024, about 24.5% of adults in Pakistan were living with obesity — about 1 in 4 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 21.4% to 27.6%). That is roughly 33.6 million people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 88th highest out of 199 countries. It is below the average for WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region (28.8%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 1.6%. Since then it has gone up by 22.9 percentage points — about 15.3 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 622 thousand to 33.6 million adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 28.0% compared with 21.0%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 8.0% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 0.3% in 1980 — around 6.9 million young people.
Obesity is not the only weight problem here: 6.9% of adults are underweight (BMI under 18.5). Health experts call this mix the “double burden” of malnutrition.
For context, 30.9% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 45.7% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 2,514 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Pakistan has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 2005, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Pakistan: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 0.9% to 21.0%, and women from 2.5% to 28.0%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 0.9% | 2.5% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 1.2% | 3.4% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 1.6% | 4.7% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 2.4% | 6.2% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 3.6% | 8.3% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 5.6% | 11.0% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 8.4% | 14.3% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 12.2% | 18.7% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 16.9% | 23.8% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 21.0% | 28.0% | 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 Pakistan
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 0.5% to 9.2%, and girls from 0.2% to 6.8%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Pakistan compared (2024)
What this meansHow Pakistan’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Eastern Mediterranean (WHO region)28.8%
- Pakistan24.5%
- World16.2%
- Lower-middle income countries12.0%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Pakistan
What this meansThe food available per person went from 1,874 calories a day in 1961 to 2,514 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Pakistan
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 85. Armenia25.0%
- 86. Colombia24.9%
- 87. Iran24.6%
- 88. Pakistan24.5%
- 89. Finland24.2%
- 90. Albania24.1%
- 90. Mauritania24.1%
Last updated