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The obesity rate among South Korean adults has shown a steady increase, with more than one in three now classified as obese.
The obesity rate for men in their 30s and 40s was the highest, exceeding 50%, while the gap between different regions reached up to twofold.
According to an analysis by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) of data from approximately 230,000 adults aged 19 and older who participated in the Community Health Survey between 2015 and 2024, the adult obesity rate in 2024 stood at 34.4%.
The adult obesity rate has been on a continuous upward trend, recorded at 26.3% in 2015, 31.8% in 2018, and 32.2% in 2021.
Obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 kg/㎡ or higher, calculated based on height and weight.
While the adult obesity rate increased across all 17 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide, South Jeolla Province and Jeju Island recorded the highest rates in 2024 at 36.8% each.
In particular, South Jeolla Province saw the largest increase, rising 11.4 percentage points over the decade from 25.4% in 2015.
In contrast, the adult obesity rate in Sejong City showed a relatively moderate increase from 26.2% to 29.1% during the same period, remaining among the lowest in the country.
The obesity rate at the city, county, and district levels was calculated based on the three-year average from 2022 to 2024. The gap between Danyang County in North Chungcheong Province, which had the highest rate at 44.6%, and Gwacheon City in Gyeonggi Province, which had the lowest at 22.1%, was twofold.
Adult obesity rates also showed significant differences depending on gender and age.
The obesity rate for men was 41.4%, while for women it was 23.0%, making the rate for men 1.8 times higher than that of women.
By age group, men in their 30s and 40s, who are most active socio-economically, had significantly higher obesity rates at 53.1% and 50.3%, respectively, while those aged 70 and older had the lowest at 26.0%.
The rates for other age groups among men were 41.6% for those in their 50s, 39.9% for those in their 20s, and 34.0% for those in their 60s.
Conversely, the obesity rate for women gradually increased with age, peaking at 27.9% for those aged 70 and older.
For other age groups among women, the rates were 26.6% for those in their 60s, 23.2% for those in their 50s, 21.4% for those in their 40s, 21.1% for those in their 30s, and 16.8% for those in their 20s.
Furthermore, men showed relatively higher obesity rates among those with high incomes, high levels of education, and those in office-based occupations.
The rates were 47.0% for male office workers, 44.9% for those with a university degree or higher, and 44.5% for those with a monthly household income of 5 million won or more.
In contrast, women tended to have higher obesity rates in lower-income and manual labor groups, with 30.2% for those in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, 30.7% for those with a middle school education or lower, and 27.8% for those with a monthly household income of less than 2 million won.
Additionally, while men showed a higher obesity rate in households with two or more people (41.7%) compared to those living alone (39.9%), women showed the opposite trend, with a higher obesity rate in single-person households (23.6%) compared to households with two or more people (22.9%).
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.