06/06/2025
"Childhood Obesity in Pakistan is Rising Fast"
About 40% of children in Pakistan are either overweight or obese. Experts say this is mostly because kids don’t get enough physical activity, spend too much time on screens, and eat unhealthy food.
A study by the Pakistan Health Commission (PHC) in 2018 showed that 11% of children were overweight and more than 5% were obese. But other studies done in hospitals show much higher numbers.
These newer studies say that 40% to 50% of children in Pakistan are overweight or obese. This means the problem is much bigger than the older report suggested.
Dr. Musarrat Riaz, from Baqai Medical University in Karachi, said the PHC numbers are too low. She believes the real number is between 40% and 50%. She called the situation "very alarming."
She also said that childhood obesity is rising fast and causing many health problems. If things don’t change, the number of unhealthy children will keep going up.
Dr. Riaz said that even young adults between 20 and 25 years old are getting serious health problems like early diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, and hormonal issues—all linked to obesity.
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Pakistan has the third-highest number of diabetes cases in the world. Right now, 1 in every 4 adults in the country is living with diabetes. Dr. Abdul Basit, a member of the IDF Atlas Committee, warned that if people in Pakistan do not improve their eating habits and physical activity, their health situation will worsen in the next five years.
He referred to a recent study by the Pakistan Health Research Council (PHRC), which found that nearly 60% of Pakistan’s population is obese. The study used two different standards to measure obesity—Global standards and Asian standards.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the global BMI scale, about 58.1% of Pakistanis are overweight, and 43.9% are obese. However, when using the Asian BMI scale—which is more accurate for people in this region—72.3% are overweight, and 58.1% are obese.
These Asian cutoffs are supported by health experts because Asians can face heart disease or strokes at lower body weights compared to Europeans or Americans. This is due to differences in lifestyle, genetics, and body composition.
Under global BMI cutoffs, a person with a BMI of 25 or more is considered overweight, and a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. But for Asian populations, a BMI of 23 is overweight, and 25 or more is considered obese. This shows that many more people in Pakistan are at risk than global standards might suggest.
