Malnutrition is Declining But Obesity is on Steep Rise in India: UN Report

New Delhi: A UN organisations’ report indicates that the obesity crisis is deepening in India both in adults and children. 

According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition (SOFI) in the World 2025 report, among children below five years of age, the overweight rate has increased from 2.7% in 2012 to 3.7% in 2024 of this population group. In absolute numbers, it translates into an increase from 2.7 million in  to 4.2 million – thus making them prone to obesity and its long-term related complications.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Health Organisation (WHO), World Food Programme and International Fund for Agriculture Development has prepared the report on the basis of secondary data. The primary data was provided by various countries. 

Childhood obesity has adverse psychosocial consequences; it affects school performance and quality of life, compounded by stigma, discrimination and bullying, says the WHO.

“Children with obesity are very likely to be adults with obesity and are also at a higher risk of developing Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in adulthood,” it adds. 

The common NCDs are hypertension, diabetes and cardiac issues. 

Similarly, the obesity in the population above 18 years has also increased consistently. In 2012, 4.7% of the population of this age group was obese. Now it has climbed to 7.3%. As many as 205.5 million adults are obese in India. 

These findings echo a worrying situation which was highlighted in a recently released paper authored by experts from various ICMR-affiliated institutes, Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, Symbiosis Medical College and TERI.

The paper states that as many as every 20th household in India had all adults classified as overweight, and every 10th household in India had all adults classified as obese. The richest wealth quintile fares worst. 

The proportion of households with all obese members was nearly twice as high in urban areas compared to their rural counterparts, the authors wrote. 

Overweight and obesity are a collection of extra fat in the body. If body mass index (BMI) ranges between 25-29.9, one is labelled overweight. If BMI is between 30 to 39.9, one is the obese range. Anything above 24.9 BMI is unhealthy. 

Obesity prevention is intricately linked with preventing other diseases as chronic obesity can lead to NCDs which become a lifetime challenge to deal with. 

The authors of the paper point out that though India had introduced a whole range of  initiatives to control obesity, their impact remains limited.  

“The findings of this study indicate that these efforts must be scaled up to target high-risk urban and wealthier populations,” said the paper, instead of broad strategies for all groups of populations. 

The focus must be shifted to individual-level interventions to household clusters to effectively address the overweight and obesity epidemic in India, the authors recommend. They warn that the individuals living in these clusters face a higher risk of developing NCDs in the future if timely interventions are not implemented.

They suggest that the attention should be directed towards the southern region, wealthier households, and urban residents, who have been identified as having a higher likelihood of obesity compared to their counterparts

Undernourishment in India has gone down from 21% to 12%

While obesity on the one hand remains a worrying area to be addressed, the SOFI report says as much as 40.4% of the population in India in 2024 – that is 586.5  million people are unable to afford a healthy diet. The report defines a healthy diet as one comprising a variety of locally available foods that meet energy and most nutrient requirements.

According to the WHO, a healthy diet is necessary for an individual to perform a range of functions, including enabling the body to produce enzymes, hormones and other substances needed for normal growth and development.

While some of the dangerous  health issues caused by micronutrient deficiency are visible, the lack of mental clarity, reduction in energy level and overall capacity to work remain invisible, the WHO adds. 

Although the fact that more than 500 million people are unable to afford a healthy diet sounds alarming, the SOFI report says, this number has consistently declined over the past few years. In fact, the decrease in the number of people who can't afford a healthy diet in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) is primarily due to India's improved performance. India is a country that belongs to the LMIC group. 

The SOFI report pointed out that Southern Asia registered a decline in the number of such people mostly due to India's improved performance. 

The extent of global hunger is measured by the prevalence of undernourishment. The prevalence in India has gone down from 21% to 12%. In other words, 243.9 million people in 2004-06  were undernourished as compared to 172 million in 2022-24

The prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) is an estimate of the proportion of the population whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy levels that are required to maintain a normal active and healthy life, according UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) definition. 

“The progress seen at the global level is driven by notable improvement in South-eastern Asia, Southern Asia – which mainly reflects the impact of new data from India – and South America. The PoU in Asia decreased from 7.9 percent in 2022 to 6.7 percent (323 million people) in 2024,” the SOFI report says about highlighting India's role in the global decrease in PoU. 

15.7% of children of the total population below 5 years have been declared  as 'wasted'

As per WHO, low weight-for-high is known as wasting. It indicated that the child has been facing undernutrition in his/her recent times. Usually one suffers extreme weight loss because of not eating enough food. It can also happen due to an infection due to which weight loss happens. s/he can face serious complications, including death.

As much as 15.7% of children of the total population below 5 years have been declared  as 'wasted'  in India in 2024. This is equivalent to 21.3 million children, This is the highest in South Asia.

If a child has low weight-for-age, it is considered stunted. Unlike wasting, wherein a child faces undernutrition from recent times, stunting happens if a child has not been fed enough food for a very long time, and has been facing chronic undernutrition.

The prevalence of stunting has reduced in children below five years from 41.7% in 2012 to 37.4% in 2024. Thus, the number of stunted children in India is 53.3 million to 37.4 million. 

The prevalence of anemia in women (15-49 years) increased from 50.1% (in 2012) to  53.7% (in 2023). 

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