Europe · Country profile
Obesity in Tajikistan
23.1% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 94th highest of 199 countries.
23.1%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 20.8%–25.5%
Source: WHO
1.3 million
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
3.3%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#94
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Tajikistan in numbers
In 2024, about 23.1% of adults in Tajikistan were living with obesity — about 1 in 4 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 20.8% to 25.5%). That is roughly 1.3 million people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 94th highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s Europe region (20.9%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 6.4%. Since then it has gone up by 16.7 percentage points — about 3.6 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 114 thousand to 1.3 million adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 27.6% compared with 17.9%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 3.3% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 1.5% in 1980 — around 114 thousand young people.
For context, 14.1% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 35.7% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 2,712 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Tajikistan has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 2018, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Tajikistan: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 5.3% to 17.9%, and women from 7.4% to 27.6%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 5.3% | 7.4% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 5.8% | 8.2% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 6.4% | 9.2% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 7.1% | 10.6% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 8.0% | 12.3% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 9.5% | 14.8% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 11.6% | 17.9% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 13.9% | 21.5% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 16.1% | 24.9% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 17.9% | 27.6% | 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 Tajikistan
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 1.5% to 4.1%, and girls from 1.5% to 2.5%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Tajikistan compared (2024)
What this meansHow Tajikistan’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Tajikistan23.1%
- Europe (WHO region)20.9%
- World16.2%
- Low income countries10.1%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Tajikistan
What this meansThe food available per person went from 1,999 calories a day in 1992 to 2,712 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Tajikistan
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 90. Mauritania24.1%
- 92. Algeria23.6%
- 93. Malaysia23.3%
- 94. Tajikistan23.1%
- 95. Cuba23.0%
- 95. Venezuela23.0%
- 97. Ukraine22.8%
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