Malta’s Childhood Obesity Numbers Have Skyrocketed, WHO Report Reveals
40% and 36% of Maltese children and adolescents respectively are overweight, a World Health Organisation report found.
Figures in the report, which reviewed 52 countries across the board, have shown that Maltese kids aged five to nine years were the third most overweight across all sexes, while adolescents aged 10 – 19 years placed second.
In addition, boys aged 11 and 15 years, were earmarked as the heaviest in the region, with 45% of 11-year-olds and 40% of 15-year-olds classed as overweight, if not obese.
Female children and adolescents still scored high, but far less than their male counterparts, with 35% of 13-year-olds, 33% of 11-year-olds, and 30% of 15-year-olds marked as overweight.
A worsening epidemic
Malta’s struggles with childhood obesity have been a longstanding issue, especially after the WHO published Malta’s high numbers in their previous (2019) report. However, the situation has become far more severe.
Childhood obesity has become an overwhelmingly increasing problem in Malta, but the situation has escalated further.
In 2019, 38%of 11-year-old boys were overweight, while the figure for 15-year-old boys stood at 34%. Now the numbers have risen, and by quite a sum.
Healthy eating is unpopular among Maltese children
In the same report, the WHO sought to get an idea of healthy eating habits in Maltese kids by tracking how many of them ate fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.
They found that 55% of female adolescents and 57% of male adolescents did not consume fruits and vegetables daily. This, despite recommendations, to consume five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
What does it all mean?
It may seem like a harmless statistic, but with obesity directly linked to a risk of early death by way of a number of nasty diseases, one would say it’s about time we start making some changes, especially since the problem seems to be quite common in Maltese youths.
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WHO regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, called on all European countries to take action against the growing epidemic, stressing that it has “now placed a heavy toll on individuals, families, health systems and economies.”
What do you make of these numbers?