Abstract

Aim Obesity is a public health problem, and all high-, low- and middle-income countries face it worldwide. The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of obesity and its relation to the Human Development Index in Asian countries in 2016. Subjects and methods This is an ecological study. The data required were the HDI and the prevalence of obesity (BMI >= 30) in adults > 18 years of age, obtained from the World Bank (). Two-way correlation and analysis of variance were used at a significance level < 0.05, and the analyses were performed using Stata-14 software. Results Between 2000 and 2016, the highest prevalence of obesity was found for males and females > 18 years living in the American and the lowest was found for those in Southeast Asia. The results showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between the prevalence of obesity in males (r = 0.486, P < 0.001) and females (r = 0.360, P < 0.001) with the HDI. The study of HDI components showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between the prevalence of obesity with GNI (r = 0.429, P < 0.01), MYS (r = 0.343, P < 0.01), LEB (r = 0.332, P < 0.001) and EYS (r = 0.331, P < 0.001). However, the correlation was not significant for the prevalence of obesity with GNI, MYS, LEB and EYS (P > 0.05). The highest mean prevalence of obesity in males (20.6 +/- 11.8) and in females (26.3 +/- 16.2) was linked to a very high human development index. Conclusion According to the results, the prevalence of obesity among males and females in the Asian continent is higher in countries with a high HDI, indicating the presence of obesity-related factors in these countries. Therefore, attention to lifestyle and physical activity as risk factors for obesity can be effective in reducing the prevalence of obesity in these countries.