OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY

Being overweight or obese increases a person's risk of developing long-term health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes, while being underweight can also be a health risk factor for some people.

Definitions Body Mass Index (BMI) is a commonly used measure for defining whether a person is underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. In the National Health Survey, respondents’ height and weight were measured to determine their BMI score. In 2014-15, 26.8% of respondents aged 18 years and over did not have their height, weight or both measured. For these people, height and weight were imputed. For more information see Appendix 2: Physical measurements in the 2014-15 National Health Survey. Another method used to measure whether a person is a healthy weight or not is waist circumference. See Waist circumference for more information.

In 2014-15, 63.4% of Australians aged 18 years and over were overweight or obese (11.2 million people), comprised of 35.5% overweight (6.3 million people) and 27.9% obese (4.9 million people). A further 35.0% were of normal weight and 1.6% were underweight.

While the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased in Australia between 1995 (56.3%) and 2011-12 (62.8%), there was no significant increase between 2011-12 and 2014-15. Overall, 70.8% of men were overweight or obese in 2014-15, compared with 56.3% of women.



Rates of overweight and obesity increase with age. Of men aged 45 years and over, almost four in five (79.4%) were overweight or obese in 2014-15, while two in three women (65.7%) of the same age were overweight or obese.



In 2014-15, more women living in areas of most disadvantage in Australia were overweight or obese (first quintile; 61.1%) than women living in areas of least disadvantage (fifth quintile; 47.8%). For men there were no differences between areas of disadvantage. These patterns were similar to those of 2011-12.



Rates of overweight and obesity also vary by remoteness areas. In 2014-15, 61.1% of adults living in Major Cities were overweight or obese compared with 69.2% in Inner Regional Australia and 69.2% also in Outer Regional and Remote Australia. This pattern was consistent with that of 2011-12.