Eastern Mediterranean · Country profile
Obesity in Palestine
37.4% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 28th highest of 199 countries.
37.4%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 34.4%–40.5%
Source: WHO
1 million
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
11.2%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#28
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Palestine in numbers
In 2024, about 37.4% of adults in Palestine were living with obesity — about 1 in 3 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 34.4% to 40.5%). That is roughly 1 million people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 28th highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region (28.8%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 15.1%. Since then it has gone up by 22.3 percentage points — about 2.5 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 80 thousand to 1 million adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 45.5% compared with 28.3%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 11.2% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 1.9% in 1980 — around 217 thousand young people.
For context, 19.7% of adults had diabetes in 2022 and 29.7% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Palestine: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 8.0% to 28.3%, and women from 21.9% to 45.5%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 8.0% | 21.9% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 10.0% | 24.8% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 12.5% | 28.1% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 15.4% | 31.5% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 18.8% | 35.2% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 22.4% | 38.5% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 25.5% | 41.1% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 27.5% | 43.3% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 28.2% | 44.7% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 28.3% | 45.5% | 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 Palestine
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 1.6% to 12.5%, and girls from 2.1% to 9.8%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Palestine compared (2024)
What this meansHow Palestine’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Palestine37.4%
- Eastern Mediterranean (WHO region)28.8%
- World16.2%
- Lower-middle income countries12.0%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Countries ranked nearby
- 26. Fiji39.0%
- 27. Panama37.7%
- 28. Mexico37.4%
- 28. Palestine37.4%
- 30. Argentina37.2%
- 31. Brunei37.1%
- 32. Georgia35.7%
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