Western Pacific · Country profile
Obesity in Tonga
73.8% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 2nd highest of 199 countries.
73.8%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 69.5%–77.9%
Source: WHO
44 thousand
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
32.5%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#2
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Tonga in numbers
In 2024, about 73.8% of adults in Tonga were living with obesity, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 69.5% to 77.9%). That is roughly 44 thousand people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 2nd highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s Western Pacific region (9.7%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 39.4%. Since then it has gone up by 34.4 percentage points. In people, that is a change from about 18 thousand to 44 thousand adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 81.4% compared with 63.9%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 32.5% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 5.1% in 1980 — around 12 thousand young people.
For context, 23.4% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 30.7% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 3,059 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Tonga has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 2013, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Tonga: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 30.4% to 63.9%, and women from 48.1% to 81.4%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 30.4% | 48.1% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 34.7% | 52.3% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 38.7% | 56.5% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 41.8% | 60.3% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 44.3% | 63.9% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 47.1% | 67.5% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 50.9% | 71.2% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 55.4% | 75.1% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 60.1% | 78.8% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 63.9% | 81.4% | 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 Tonga
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 4.0% to 31.5%, and girls from 6.4% to 33.6%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Tonga compared (2024)
What this meansHow Tonga’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Tonga73.8%
- Upper-middle income countries16.7%
- World16.2%
- Western Pacific (WHO region)9.7%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Tonga
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,897 calories a day in 2019 to 3,059 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Tonga
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 1. American Samoa75.9%
- 2. Tonga73.8%
- 3. Cook Islands72.4%
- 4. Naoero71.4%
- 5. Tokelau70.7%
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