In Forbes “World’s Fattest Countries”, Canada ranked as the 35th fattest country in the world. 61.1% of Canadian adults aged 15 and over are overweight.
11 Responses to “Canada ranked 35th Fattest Country in the World”
Julie
Where is Nauru?
I’m actually surprised that places like Dominica, Barbados and Trinidad have more overweight people than Canada. I would have expected to see the developing countries lower on this particular list.
I hope Canada can actually improve… and no longer be in the top 50. We have such a great health care system compared to so many other countries — We should be doing more to encourage healthy eating.
Jim Squires
I can proudly boast that I live in “the fattest city in Canada.” I can’t remember the study, but it came out a few years ago, so all of us fat slobs got to wear it as a badge of pride/shame on a greasy, chicken stained shirts.
Jim Squires
Does NOBODY else find it funny that Ethipoia was included in the list?
Sure, it was in second last place at number #193, but come on. That’s just funny.
amycanada77
I am quite proud of Canada — I thought I would look at that list and see us listed within the top 10 — right there with the U.S. — BUT we are 35!! yes I agree that we do need to ecourage healthy eating and I see small changes like that occuring all the time — Children’s schools no longer having junk food vending machines — Sub day at school rather than pizza day even fast food places are offering salads and apple slices instead of greasy fries.
So I think we will be well on our way out of the top fifty sooner than I thought
Rebecca
Interesting results!
Yeah it’s quite funny to see some of southern African countries in “world’s fattest countries”… even though they are towards the end of the list, it seems like they’re in the wrong place! no offence
Bob
Depending on how you look at it, there are either 193 or 194 (if Taiwan is recognized) countries in the world. So, Ethiopia being second to last is rather expected. Why this study even bothers to list countries below say, the top 50, makes no sense at all.
ftcnt
i’m more interested in the methodology of the study. i’m curious to know how the BMI scores were obtained, what was the sample size and statistical significance used. anyone know where i can get that info?
It’s all that west coast hydro givin’ people the munchies that’s to blame.
CanadaLovesFree
Keep in mind this is measuring overweight, not obesity.
It would be interesting to counter this with “worlds thinnest countries”–something tells me that it’s not a matter of reversing the list, but rather looking at individiuals with low BMI’s. It would be an interesitng comparative study.
That being stated, not all cultures have the same preoccupation as we do with body size and weight. Muscle mass can put someone into the “overweight” category, even if they have minimal fat on their body (think body buliders.. high BMI..but you wouldn’t be able to call them fat!)
ftcnt
as health care practitioners know, BMI is only of of many measures used to address obesity. its unfortunate with these studies, often from the private sector which do not private much transparency into how they did it. its much easier to make generalizations and put labels and ranks than it is to explain why you did things a certain way.
BCteagirl
BMI is simply a handy measure to use in studies where you are looking at vast amounts of people. Sure, there will be the occaional buffed out muscly person that will be labelled incorrectly. It is easy to forget that *most* if not all tests will label someone incorrectly.. It is not perfect, but it is the best they have for large scale studies like this, and has been used by the Red Cross in performing triage (ie– who needs the most help first). My family was from Regina, ‘the fatest city in Canada’.. and the arguement in Regina was that this must be false because BMI was used… and the RCMP training is there, so probably all the muscley guys were mis labelled and gave us a bum rap. A quick walk around in public will show you that this is simply not the case…
Where is Nauru?
I’m actually surprised that places like Dominica, Barbados and Trinidad have more overweight people than Canada. I would have expected to see the developing countries lower on this particular list.
I hope Canada can actually improve… and no longer be in the top 50. We have such a great health care system compared to so many other countries — We should be doing more to encourage healthy eating.
I can proudly boast that I live in “the fattest city in Canada.” I can’t remember the study, but it came out a few years ago, so all of us fat slobs got to wear it as a badge of pride/shame on a greasy, chicken stained shirts.
Does NOBODY else find it funny that Ethipoia was included in the list?
Sure, it was in second last place at number #193, but come on. That’s just funny.
I am quite proud of Canada — I thought I would look at that list and see us listed within the top 10 — right there with the U.S. — BUT we are 35!! yes I agree that we do need to ecourage healthy eating and I see small changes like that occuring all the time — Children’s schools no longer having junk food vending machines — Sub day at school rather than pizza day even fast food places are offering salads and apple slices instead of greasy fries.
So I think we will be well on our way out of the top fifty sooner than I thought
Interesting results!
Yeah it’s quite funny to see some of southern African countries in “world’s fattest countries”… even though they are towards the end of the list, it seems like they’re in the wrong place! no offence
Depending on how you look at it, there are either 193 or 194 (if Taiwan is recognized) countries in the world. So, Ethiopia being second to last is rather expected. Why this study even bothers to list countries below say, the top 50, makes no sense at all.
i’m more interested in the methodology of the study. i’m curious to know how the BMI scores were obtained, what was the sample size and statistical significance used. anyone know where i can get that info?
It’s all that west coast hydro givin’ people the munchies that’s to blame.
Keep in mind this is measuring overweight, not obesity.
It would be interesting to counter this with “worlds thinnest countries”–something tells me that it’s not a matter of reversing the list, but rather looking at individiuals with low BMI’s. It would be an interesitng comparative study.
That being stated, not all cultures have the same preoccupation as we do with body size and weight. Muscle mass can put someone into the “overweight” category, even if they have minimal fat on their body (think body buliders.. high BMI..but you wouldn’t be able to call them fat!)
as health care practitioners know, BMI is only of of many measures used to address obesity. its unfortunate with these studies, often from the private sector which do not private much transparency into how they did it. its much easier to make generalizations and put labels and ranks than it is to explain why you did things a certain way.
BMI is simply a handy measure to use in studies where you are looking at vast amounts of people. Sure, there will be the occaional buffed out muscly person that will be labelled incorrectly. It is easy to forget that *most* if not all tests will label someone incorrectly.. It is not perfect, but it is the best they have for large scale studies like this, and has been used by the Red Cross in performing triage (ie– who needs the most help first). My family was from Regina, ‘the fatest city in Canada’.. and the arguement in Regina was that this must be false because BMI was used… and the RCMP training is there, so probably all the muscley guys were mis labelled and gave us a bum rap. A quick walk around in public will show you that this is simply not the case…