Jamaican Economy Panel Discussion Eight on Jamaica's Looming Obesity Crisis

According to the WHO, the highest obesity rates are found in small islands in the Pacific, which make up the ten countries with the highest rates of obesity. Of those, Nauru has the highest obesity rate at 61 per cent (63.3 per cent of women and 58.7 per cent of men). Another region with high obesity rates is the Middle East, which contributes nine out of the ten countries ranked 11-20 in the highest morbidity rate, while the United States is the other.

In the Caribbean, the Bahamas has the highest obesity rate, with 31.6 per cent of the population falling in that category (38.1 per cent of women and 24.4 per cent of men). Jamaica is ranked fifth amongst those countries in the Caribbean with available data. 24.7 per cent of Jamaicans were estimated to be obese (33.4 per cent of women and 15.3 per cent of men) in 2016.