Vietnam is currently leading a 'sad category' of health in Southeast Asia

Obesity is currently considered a new "pandemic" in the world, when the proportion of overweight people in the world is increasing. According to a new study from Fitch Solutions Macro Research, the rate of obesity in Southeast Asia is increasing very fast, putting a burden on governments in many countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.

But the most remarkable thing in the study is Vietnam. According to the report, Vietnam currently holds a sad record in Southeast Asia, when the rate of obesity - those with a BMI of over 25 - is the fastest in this region, between 2014 and 2019. Specifically The growth rate of obesity in Vietnam is 38%, while Indonesia is only 33%.

Obesity rate in Vietnam increased rapidly in the period from 2014 to 2019.

However, comfort is compared to the population rate, the rate of obese people in Vietnam is still low - about 3.6%, far behind Malaysia (13.3%) and lower than Indonesia (5 , 7%) a bit.

"Improved regional economic standards are making lifestyle changes, and driving more people towards unhealthy diets," reports Fitch. "The low nutritional value foods are more popular because of the low cost, and the introduction of culture from the West."

The increasing rate of obesity can cause significant burdens for the health sector, at the same time pushing up costs for related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Currently, Malaysia is the place to bear a lot of costs because of the consequences of being the most obese, with a rate of up to 20% of the total costs for health.

In other areas, the obesity rate is also high. South Korea - a country that focuses on beauty and obesity rate increased by 38% in the last 5 years, increasing the obesity rate nationwide to 5.8%. In the US, obesity rates increased from 8% to 33.7% across the population.

The Philippines has the lowest rate of growth: only 5.1% of people are obese, with a growth rate of 6%.

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