The 10 Fattest Countries In The World

Marjan Lazarevski

The number of overweight and obese people has skyrocketed over the past thirty years, jumping from 857 million in 1980 to more than 2 billion in 2013. That's approximately a third of the world's population.

In 2010 alone, between 3 and 4 million people died due to complications from obesity.

While the United States is often pegged as the standard-bearer for overweight populations, there are more than a few countries tracking close behind.

With people in the world becoming more sedentary thanks to desk and computer jobs and more and more gaining access to high calorie, high fat foods like fast food and soda, the obesity epidemic will become a massive public health crisis in the coming decades, unless drastic steps are taken.

A new study out in The Lancet by the Global Burden of Disease has revealed the ten countries with the highest rates of obesity. A few may surprise you.

1. United States

78 million people, or 33% of the adult population.

REUTERS/Rick WilkingCarolyn Dawson, bariatric surgery patient, has blood drawn by Kelley Bargmann, lab technician (R) at the Rose Medical Center in Denver five days before her procedure August 25, 2010.

2. China 

46 million people, or 4.4% of the adult population.

China Photos / StringerA 25-year-old Chinese woman shares a laugh with her grandmother, dressed in her operating gown, as the younger woman prepares to receive surgery for obesity at the Tianjin Nankai Hospital August 16, 2006 in Tianjin Municipality, China.

3. India

30 million people, or 3.8% of the adult population.

REUTERS/Arko DattaA woman walks past a billboard in Mumbai April 19, 2007.

4. Russia

28 million people or 24.1 percent of the adult population.

REUTERS/Sergei KarpukhinWomen perform during the Miss Fatty contest in Moscow June 24, 2007.

5. Brazil

22 million or 16.2 percent of the adult population.

ReutersAlex de Oliveira Silva, the Rei Momo (Fat King) of carnival (L) jokingly places his crown on the head of Mayor Luiz Paulo Conde (R) during a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro February 20.

6. Mexico

20 million or 26.9 percent of the adult population.

7. Egypt

18 million or 35.9 percent of the adult population.

8. Germany

16 million or 24.3 percent of the adult population.

9. Pakistan

14 million or 13.6 percent of the adult population.

10. Indonesia

11 million or 6.8 percent of the adult population.

h/t GlobalPost

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