There are 2.1 million obese or overweight children in Spain, although it is one of the few countries in the world to reduce this number.

According to the "World Obesity Atlas 2026" report published this Wednesday by the World Obesity Federation, Spain is one of 15 countries that recorded a decrease in the incidence of cancer in children aged 10 to 19 between 2010 and 2025.

Spain has registered 2.1 million overweight or obese children, although it is one of the few countries in the world that has reduced the number.

Based on facts observed and directly verified by our journalists or information sources.

According to the "World Obesity Atlas 2026" report, published this Wednesday by the World Obesity Federation, Spain is one of 15 countries that recorded an annual decrease in the prevalence of this chronic and "multifactorial" disease in children aged 10 to 19 between 2010 and 2025.

The World Obesity Federation published its annual report on Wednesday, March 4, when World Obesity Day is celebrated.The work, called the World Obesity Atlas 2026, which this year also focuses on childhood obesity.According to their data, more than 2.1 million school-aged boys and girls are overweight or obese in Spain, although this figure is expected to decrease from 2040 to which projections are being prepared.

The organization also emphasizes that Spain is one of the 15 countries in the world that reduced the prevalence of obesity and overweight between 2010 and 2025, compared to another 181 that increased it.From 32.5% in 2010 when 2,204,437 minors were registered with this problem, it rose to 30.5% in 2025, up to 2,111,758 last year.Magdalena Wetzel, head of policy and advocacy at the World Obesity Federation, confirmed that the rate in Spain, as in other high-income countries, remains at a high level, but the growth is "slow".

High blood pressure and liver disease...

Of the 2.1 million Spanish minors who are obese or overweight, on the other hand, 735,000 are between the ages of five and nine and the remaining 1.3 million are between the ages of 10 and 19.154,000 of them have high blood pressure associated with body mass index (BMI) and 225,000 have high triglyceride levels associated with BMI, which puts them at risk of cardiovascular disease.Similarly, the organization counted 433,000 children between the ages of five and 19 with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and 71,000 minors with BMI-related hyperglycemia (higher than normal blood glucose levels).

Globally, one in five boys and girls aged five to 19 (20.7%) worldwide is obese or overweight, up from 14.6% in 2010. The World Obesity Federation predicts that a total of 507 million children will be overweight or obese by 2040.The organization has warned that global obesity rates are falling, with global obesity rates falling.A deadline of 2025 has been set and has been extended to 2030.

"En 2013, se adoptó una meta similar a 'detener el aumento de la diabetes y la obesidad' en adolescentes para 2025 (con respecto a los niveles de 2010-2012). La OMS suele definir la adolescencia como el período comprendido entre los 10 y los 19 años. Este Atlas estima que 181 países no alcanzaron esta meta, incluidos 24 países que experimentaron un aumento anual superior al 6% entre 2010 y 2025. Por otro lado, solo 15 países experimentaron una disminución anual de la prevalencia durante el mismo período", reza el informe. "Es probable que no se haya alcanzado el objetivo mundial de 2025 para los adolescentes de 10 a 19 años, ya que más de 180 países experimentaron un aumento en la prevalencia", concluye.

"Obesity rates and high BMI are increasing rapidly, particularly in middle-income countries," explains the work.The countries with the highest growth are Vietnam (about eight percent), Pakistan, Indonesia, Maldives and India.At the other end of the table, where obesity rates among children are also decreasing, there are countries like Russia, Canada, USA, Italy, Greece, Ireland and Greenland besides Spain.

Magdalena Wetzel, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the World Obesity Federation, explained that the 2026 data is an estimate based on the projection of the 2022-2026 data based on the combined data until 2022. However, the data for 2026 shows that the aging rate is decreasing, she said. "The value is still high, but slowly."On the other hand, in middle-income countries, the overall rate is accelerating."There are countries, such as India and China, where childhood obesity is increasing by more than 3 percent every year."

"Obesity is multifactorial and requires a multisectoral response".

"What's happening in slightly higher-income countries is that they're already changing their food systems because of increased sedentary lifestyles and other structural equity crises that keep them up, but not now," Wetzel notes.

Regarding Spain, the expert emphasized that reading the data "can be good" and "hopeful", while showing that obesity is "a disease of society determined by the environment and not by personal choices", which is why it requires "decisions that involve the whole society"."Obesity is multifactorial and requires a multisectoral response," he said.

For the president of the Spanish Association for Obesity (SEEDO), Dr. Diego Bellido, who did not participate in the report of the World Federation of Obesity, the data would indicate that "some measures are beginning to appear that are positive", but "much more remains", such as the promotion of nutrition education in schools and, at the municipal level, the creation of public spaces that encourage physical activity and reduce a sedentary lifestyle.According to SEEDO data provided to this newspaper by Bellido, one in six children between the ages of five and fifteen is obese, and the forecast for 2030 is to "practically double" this figure. Therefore, the world organization's report "encourages some optimism".

Three countries have more than 10 million obese children

This is the second report to focus on childhood, with other years focusing on the economic impact of obesity and its consequences or impact on Covid-19.The current edition also notes that "in ten countries, more than 50% of school-aged children between the ages of 5 and 19 are overweight or obese."

The report also warns that "more than 200 million school-aged children (ages 5-19) are overweight and obese, concentrated in just 10 countries, including China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Egypt and Mexico."Three of them have more than 10 million obese children," he said.The document lists 33 million in China, 14 million in India and 13 million in the US.Obese children aged 5-19 years.

The World Obesity Federation also notes in its report that national measures in various countries to reduce the risk factors for childhood obesity "remain inadequate".This was concluded after noting that "children in many countries are at increased risk of exposure to one or more of these risk factors" for developing obesity, such as the mother's previous health, diet or physical activity.According to the document, in 95 percent of countries, more than 75 percent of children between the ages of 11 and 17 do not engage in physical activity recommended for a healthy lifestyle, or in 74 percent of territories, children between the ages of six and ten drink more than 100 ml of sugary drinks per day.

On the other hand, the report says, "Obesity rates have increased so much that the global number of children between the ages of five and 19 living with obesity will exceed the number of children who are overweight." "By 2040, the Atlas predicts that 227 million children aged 5 to 19 will be living with obesity, and 142 million will be overweight."