A healthy life - the key statistics

Our ambitious goal to increase the average number of healthy years lived in the UK, while narrowing health inequalities, is underpinned by this evidence

Obesity levels are high and are having a negative impact on health across the UK. 28% of the adult population in England are obese according to the NHS Health Survey of England 2019. Excess weight – both those who are overweight or obese – affects 35 million adults in the UK.

Health Survey for England data shows that, over the last 26 years, the average BMI has increasedfor both men and women. Similar trends over the years have been observed for Wales and Scotland.

Prevalence is highest among the most deprived groups in society and the gap in prevalence of obesity between the most deprived and least deprived areas was approximately 13 percentage points across England, Scotland and Wales.

In England, childhood obesity rates have increased during the pandemic. According to the NHS, obesity rates in both reception-aged and year 6 school children increased by around 4.5 percentage points between 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Excess weight (or a high BMI) was the third highest risk factor for death and disability in the UK in 2019. High blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer are all diseases linked to obesity and diet.

In UK, 2019-20 had 1 million hospital admissions of people with a primary or secondary diagnosis of obesity, which is 17% higher than in 2018-19.

In 2019, the UK government estimates that there were around 2.9 billion impacts (or views) of adverts containing high fat, salt and sugar products aimed at children in the UK.

17% of England’s fast-food outlets are concentrated in the most deprived areas, compared with 3% in the richest areas. Similar trends are seen in Scotland, where local authority areas with higher levels of deprivation have a higher share of fast-food outlets compared to the national share. Among the devolved nations, Wales has the highest density of fast-food outlets.

It costs more to eat healthily. In 2020, the average cost of healthier food per 1,000 kilocalories was £7, compared to £2.41 for less healthy food. In addition, mean cost of fruits and vegetables (per 1,000 kcal) was £8.21 while foods & drinks high in sugar and/or fat cost only £3.42.