World's Fattest Countries 2010 (PHOTOS): GlobalPost Report

Pacific Islanders struggle with the highest levels of obesity around the world, according to a new GlobalPost report.

Writer Emily Stone cites 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) statistics which rank Nauru as the world's fattest nation, with a staggering 95 percent of its citizens currently overweight. Stone notes a general drift toward Western-style meals in Nauru, as well as the nation's notorious "fattening ceremonies," where well-born young women were kept inside and fed to excess, as two reasons for the shocking statistic.

And Americans who are busy prepping for the upcoming Thanksgiving feasts might want to re-consider that second helping of apple pie this year, as the percentage of overweight adults hover at about 79 percent. And as Stone notes, the WHO is projecting that in 2015, the number of overweight adults will balloon to 2.3 billion, up from 1.6 billion in 2005.

View the full GlobalPost article here.

View photos of the world's fattest nations, and the percentage of their population which is overweight, here:

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Nauru - 95%

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Comments

[Blodo]

08:53 PM on 12/02/2010

Wait, I object. Canada should have been in that list. We invented the donut-for-breakfast. We are turning into a nation of uber-porkers. I bet we could beat those exercise freaks in Australia in a pie eating contest any day of the week.

[Phillip Shandilis]

03:14 PM on 12/01/2010

I just spent over 2 weeks in China, and the people there were surprisingly slender and fit. It is understandable after you see there diet. Very healthy. It is not the PF Chang diet. They should not even call that chinese food.

[SpikeC]

05:32 PM on 01/10/2011

PF Chang is to Chinese food as Taco Bell is to Mexican food!

[CPAwADD]

11:19 AM on 11/29/2010

MICROnesia, ironic huh? Maybe they should change the name.

[mlaiuppa]

06:37 PM on 11/27/2010

I notice neither France nor Italy made the list, both countries known for food. Food that is hardly diet food.

Even Germany didn't make the list.

And the U.S. is the first among the major nations and supposedly first world countries. So in this we've become a third world nation. In how many other categories do we need to drop to third world before we actually are a third world country?

[Eric Burke]

03:46 PM on 11/27/2010

Canada managed to stay off the list.. thats something else lol

[Blodo]

08:55 PM on 12/02/2010

I think its favourtism. The judges were bribed with Twinkies.

[David Rozgonyi]

06:23 AM on 11/27/2010

I'm posting this as I enjoy a 4 am snack of leftover stuffing, green beans, spinach and potatoes (who needs meat?!?) from thanksgiving.... sweet!

[LogicalMathMan]

12:48 AM on 11/27/2010

I was wondering why 8 out of every ten people I saw at the supermarket were obese. Now, I know.

[msjimmied]

08:27 PM on 11/26/2010

Notice? No Asian countries.

[LogicalMathMan]

12:51 AM on 11/27/2010

No, but, India has experienced the highest growth in obesity rates in the past 5 years.

Reason: Our fast food mega-corps. Even though the country is predominantly Hindu (79%), dem double servings of fries wid dem shakes will have em loading on da pounds...I mean kilos.

[Xylem44]

06:43 PM on 11/26/2010

Things that stayed with me about that slide show (no pun intended).

Cook Island and Micronesia as tops in the fattest nations struck me as duh! and 'ironical' at the same time. Maybe if they were to change their names....?

That photographer in Bradford England waited there with his camera for quite sometime to get both the headline and a fat person in the same shot. Forseuth!

Kwait makes perfect sense to me. Highest percentage of billionaires per capita who can't drink or have recreational sex and have to wear a mandatory shapeless wardrobe to boot. Those people need to be eating.

Where is Italy on this list? Most of these people owe their... Grandmess to pizza and pasta. Italy should at the very least be in the tip 40% for guilt if nothing else.

Lastly, we are only 76% overweight? Just looking out the window I can tell our number should be much higher.

[LogicalMathMan]

12:52 AM on 11/27/2010

I wish I had a window overlooking the beach here in sunny CA.

[MsVella]

11:01 AM on 11/25/2010

I'm surprised Malta wasn't on this list

[10LittleIndians]

08:51 AM on 11/25/2010

1. Its amazing how pacific islanders look like a perfect mix of asian, african, and caucasian.

2. What the heck is it that all the Mexicans are clamoring over. It looks both delicious and repulsive.

[Xylem44]

06:47 PM on 11/26/2010

"What the heck is it that all the Mexicans are clamoring over. It looks both delicious and repulsive." LMFAO!!

Btw.. Delicious and repulsive don't have to be mutually exclusive terms. Think Cinnabun. Lol

[playon]

04:16 AM on 11/25/2010

Wow what's up with the South Pacific?

[CtrlClick]

05:45 PM on 11/25/2010

I saw a programme here in the uk, I think it was “cooking in the danger zone”, that revealed that all the fatter cuts of meat from New Zealand and Australia is sent there because the New Zealanders and Australians didn’t eat them and that’s what those people on the islands could afford. If it wasn’t ‘cooking in the danger zone’ then it was another programme by the same presenter.

[blutigeroo]

07:37 PM on 11/25/2010

And from America. The fatter cuts of the Turkeys will be sent there over the next few days.
In fact, the fatter cuts of meat from all over the Western world end up in the mouths of poor Pacific Islanders. It is a big shame.

[purenergy]

11:03 AM on 11/29/2010

Maybe its the switch from traditional tropical oils like coconut and palm oil, which actually have beneficial properties and burn more like carbs than fats, to the rancid veggie oils that are being touted as "healthier", which they are not. Also the influx of modern foods loaded with MSG, HFCS, and hydrogenated fats are certainly a contributing factor...just an idea.

[CologneCitizen]

03:38 AM on 11/25/2010

I guess Huffpo should make a list on the motives behind fat people in fat nations. It is a huge difference if it has to do with genetics, cultural traditions, processed foods, eating habits and psychological disorders like frustration, or simply boredom.

[okami]

04:43 AM on 11/25/2010

no science section, remember?

it'd be the perfect place for it.

[believethelie]

06:24 PM on 11/24/2010

I feel hungry for some reason

[Xylem44]

06:29 PM on 11/26/2010

Priceless!

[popart]

02:02 PM on 11/24/2010

if i only gain 5 pounds over my normal weight of 170 pounds ( 6 foot tall 76 year old male )
i feel uncomfortable......don't fat people feel uncomfortable.....i just do not understand why any one is fat....when all it takes us eating less food and getting more exercize.....i wonder if everyone were thin and fit the human race would less angry and less maladjusted.

[Xylem44]

06:51 PM on 11/26/2010

You would hope, but then there is Sarah Palin and your question is answered... Although she does eat moose chili

[gbrooks]

04:31 AM on 11/27/2010

Palin is a nitwit, but she isn't fat.

[violettefemme]

01:04 PM on 11/27/2010

Actually, I am quite sure that if there were less judgment about other people, and more acceptance of who we ALL are in our individuality, the human race would be less angry and maladjusted.

It would be interesting to do a BMI of violent criminals...I suspect you would find that they are overwhelmingly males in decent shape.

[SpikeC]

05:37 PM on 01/10/2011

You don't watch the TV shows taped in prisons, do you?