16 MILLION Australians are now overweight – or two-thirds of the country – and the number keeps widening
- More than two-thirds, or 67 per cent of Australians are now overweight or obese
- The nation’s fat majority has widened from 63.4 per cent in just three years
- Men more than women are more likely to be struggling to keep off the kilograms
- The Australian Bureau of Statistics surveyed 21,000 people about their weight
Australia’s battle of the bulge has worsened with more than two-thirds of people now classified as being overweight or obese.
The average Australian man weighs 87kg while for women it’s 72kg, as more young adults stack on the kilograms.
More than two-thirds, or 67 per cent, of Australians are now in the overweight or obese category, based on the body mass index of their height and weight.
That means more than 16million Australians are fat.
Australia’s battle of the bulge has worsened with more than two-thirds of people now classified as being overweight or obese. The average Australian man (Brisbane construction worker pictured) weighs 87kg while for women it’s 72kg, as more young adults stack on the kilograms
The fat majority widened in the 2017-18 financial year, up from 63.4 per cent in 2014-15, the Australian Bureau of Statistics’s National Health Survey of 21,000 people showed.
In another alarming development almost one in three Australians, or 31.3 per cent, were obese, up from 27.9 per cent three years earlier.
In 1995, just 19 per cent of Australians were obese.
Men were more likely to be fat, with 74.5 per cent of them overweight or obese compared with 60 per cent of women.
Australians living in regional or remote areas were more likely to be fat, with 72 per cent of them in this category compared with 65 per cent of capital city residents.
Wealth was also a major determinant of girth, with 70 per cent of residents in poor areas being overweight or obese compared with 63 per cent in richer postcodes.
Bellies are more likely to expand as someone ages.
Only a minority, or 46 per cent, of young adults aged 18 to 24 were overweight or obese but this represented a big increase from 39 per cent three years earlier.
Men were more likely to be fat, with 74.5 per cent of them overweight or obese compared with 60 per cent of women (pictured is Prime Minister Scott Morrison in October 2018 before he shed some kilograms)
Fat people made up the majority in every other age group.
More than half, or 58 per cent, of people aged 25 to 34 were overweight.
That rose to 69 per cent for Australians who were between 35 and 44.
Health experts consider a man to be fat if he has a waist measurement of 94cm or more.
The average Australian man has a girth of 98cm with 59.6 per cent of blokes considered to be at risk of a weight-related disease.
A woman is regarded as being unhealthy if she has a waist circumference of 80cm.
The typical Australian lady has a girth of 87.9cm, with 66 per cent of them in the risk category.