Americas · Country profile
Obesity in Uruguay
34.9% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 35th highest of 199 countries.
34.9%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 29.3%–40.7%
Source: WHO
953 thousand
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
17.8%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#35
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Uruguay in numbers
In 2024, about 34.9% of adults in Uruguay were living with obesity — about 1 in 3 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 29.3% to 40.7%). That is roughly 953 thousand people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 35th highest out of 199 countries. It is about level with the average for WHO’s Americas region (34.4%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 8.5%. Since then it has gone up by 26.4 percentage points — about 4.1 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 181 thousand to 953 thousand adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 37.7% compared with 31.8%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 17.8% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 1.9% in 1980 — around 122 thousand young people.
For context, 14.2% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 33.8% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 3,323 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Uruguay has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 1990, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Uruguay: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 6.5% to 31.8%, and women from 10.2% to 37.7%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 6.5% | 10.2% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 8.0% | 12.0% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 10.0% | 14.1% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 12.4% | 16.5% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 15.2% | 19.2% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 18.1% | 22.1% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 21.2% | 25.5% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 24.7% | 29.6% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 28.5% | 34.0% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 31.8% | 37.7% | 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 Uruguay
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 1.9% to 19.3%, and girls from 1.9% to 16.2%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Uruguay compared (2024)
What this meansHow Uruguay’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Uruguay34.9%
- Americas (WHO region)34.4%
- High income countries24.7%
- World16.2%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Uruguay
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,805 calories a day in 1961 to 3,323 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Uruguay
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 34. Jamaica35.2%
- 35. Bahrain34.9%
- 35. Nicaragua34.9%
- 35. Uruguay34.9%
- 38. Saint Lucia34.8%
- 39. Paraguay34.7%
- 40. Antigua and Barbuda34.6%
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