Quarter of adults in England are obese

Friday December 16th 2022

About one in four adults in England is obese, according to the latest Health Survey for England 2021.

The report, published by NHS Digital, also found that 49% drink alcohol at least once a week, and about one in eight (12%) were current cigarette smokers.

For most of 2021, interviews with 5,880 people aged 16 and over were carried out by telephone, rather than in person because of COVID-19 pandemic precautions, which means the findings are not directly comparable with those from previous years.

The latest survey showed that 26% of adults in England were obese – from 8% prevalence among adults aged 16-24 to 32% of those aged 65-74 – and it was lowest among adults living in the least deprived areas (20%) and highest in the most deprived areas (34%).

Of those who were obese, 11% said they had received a diagnosis of diabetes from a doctor, compared with 5% of overweight adults and 3% of those who were neither overweight nor obese.

Of those surveyed, 69% of men were either overweight or obese compared with 59% of women.

Two-thirds of adults (66%) said they had never regularly smoked, while 12% said they were current cigarette smokers. E-cigarette use was reported by 5% of those surveyed.

Among smokers, 16% said they also used e-cigarettes, while 13% of ex-regular smokers said they used them. Only 1% of those who had never smoked cigarettes said they vaped.

Alcohol had been drunk in the previous 12 months by 79% of participants, with 49% reporting they drank alcohol at least once a week.

Men were more likely than women to drink drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week, at 28% compared with 15%.

NHS Digital commissions The Health Survey for England. It is carried out by the National Centre for Social Research with UCL.

Tags: Diet & Food | Drug & Alcohol Abuse | Fitness | UK News

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