Eastern Mediterranean · Country profile
Obesity in Saudi Arabia
40.1% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 23rd highest of 199 countries.
40.1%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 34.7%–45.8%
Source: WHO
9.6 million
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
18.3%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#23
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Saudi Arabia in numbers
In 2024, about 40.1% of adults in Saudi Arabia were living with obesity — about 1 in 2 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 34.7% to 45.8%). That is roughly 9.6 million people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 23rd highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region (28.8%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 15.8%. Since then it has gone up by 24.3 percentage points — about 2.5 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 463 thousand to 9.6 million adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 46.7% compared with 36.5%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 18.3% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 2.2% in 1980 — around 1.4 million young people.
For context, 20.8% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 51.5% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 3,660 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Saudi Arabia has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 2017, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Saudi Arabia: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 10.3% to 36.5%, and women from 22.3% to 46.7%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 10.3% | 22.3% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 12.5% | 25.1% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 15.0% | 28.1% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 17.8% | 31.5% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 21.2% | 35.3% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 25.3% | 39.0% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 29.4% | 41.9% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 32.9% | 44.3% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 35.1% | 45.9% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 36.5% | 46.7% | 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 Saudi Arabia
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 2.3% to 22.2%, and girls from 2.0% to 14.1%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Saudi Arabia compared (2024)
What this meansHow Saudi Arabia’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Saudi Arabia40.1%
- Eastern Mediterranean (WHO region)28.8%
- High income countries24.7%
- World16.2%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Saudi Arabia
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,857 calories a day in 1961 to 3,660 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Saudi Arabia
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 20. Chile40.5%
- 20. Palau40.5%
- 22. Kuwait40.4%
- 23. Saudi Arabia40.1%
- 24. Iraq39.7%
- 25. Barbados39.4%
- 26. Fiji39.0%
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