High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Healthy Weight
Obesity can reduce people's overall quality of life. It creates a strain on health services and leads to premature death due to its association with serious chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia, which are all major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The two major lifestyle factors associated with the growth of obesity are physical inactivity and poor diet.
Body Mass Index is the most commonly accepted measure of general obesity. BMI is calculated by dividing weight (measured in kilograms) by height squared (measured in metres). Adults are classed as overweight if their BMI is 25 to less than 30, obese if their BMI is 30 to less than 40 and morbidly obese if their BMI is 40 or more.
Between 1995 and 2010, the proportion of adults aged 16-64 who were overweight or obese (BMI of 25 or more) increased from 52.4% to 63.3%. There has also been a steady upward trend in the prevalence of obesity (BMI of 30 or more) in adults aged 16-64, from 17.2% in 1995 to 27.4% in 2010. Most of these increases occurred in the 1995 - 2008 period, as the 2008, 2009 and 2010 figures were very similar.
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Source: Scottish Health Survey
In 2010 32.5% of children had a BMI outwith the healthy range (<=5 th percentile or >=85 th percentile). The proportions of boys (34.0%) and girls (30.9%) were not significantly different. The figures for girls did not differ significantly between 1998 and 2010 but the figures for boys have fluctuated over the years. Prevalence peaked in 2008, followed by a decline in 2009 and a slight increase again in 2010. The Scottish Government has established a National Indicator to reduce the rate of increase in the proportion of children with their BMI outwith a healthy range by 2018.
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Source: Scottish Health Survey
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