Bangladesh ranks lowest in obesity rates: Study

Whilst one-third of the world's population is now carrying excess weight, Bangladesh and another South Asian country, Vietnam, have the lowest obesity rates at 1%.

More than 2 billion adults and children globally are overweight or obese and they usually suffer health problems because of their weight, CNN reports based on a new study published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

This means about one-third of the world's population carrying excess weight, fueled by urbanization, poor diets and reduced physical activity.

The United States has the greatest percentage of obese children and young adults, at 13%, while Egypt led in terms of adult obesity, with almost 35%, among the 195 countries and territories included in the study, reports CNN.

While 2.2 billion people were obese or overweight in 2015, more than 710 million of them were classed as obese, with 5% of all children and 12% of adults fitting into this category.

An increasing number globally are dying from health problems linked to being overweight, such as cardiovascular disease, according to CNN.

The researchers analyzed data from 68.5 million people between 1980 and 2015 to explore trends as well as figures regarding overweight and obesity rates, reports CNN.

Data were obtained from the most recent Global Burden of Disease study, which explores all major diseases, conditions and injuries globally by age, sex and population.

The data revealed that the number of people affected by obesity has doubled since 1980 in 73 countries, and continued to rise across most other countries included in the analysis.

Obesity levels were higher among women than men across all age groups, which correlates with previous findings on obesity.