Definition: obesity corresponds to a body mass index higher than or equal to 30. This indicator corresponds to the share of obese people in the adult population (aged 18 years and over). The body mass index (or BMI) is an anthropometric measurement that is calculated as the relationship between the weight in kilograms and the square of the body height in meters. The BMI is correlated with the body fat percentage of an adult (Eurostat, 2008). Obese people run a higher risk of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and certain forms of cancer (WHO, 2015). The data come from the national health surveys carried out by the Scientific Institute of Public Health/Sciensano for Belgium and from Eurostat for the other European countries. Since these data are based on a survey, a margin of uncertainty has to be taken into account. This margin of uncertainty increases as the indicator is calculated on smaller sub-populations. The confidence intervals are available on the Sciensano website.

Goal: the share of obese adults must decrease.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 2.2: “By 2030 end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving by 2025 the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons”.

The Federal Long-Term Strategic Vision for Sustainable Development contains objective 7: “The morbity/mortality due to chronic diseases should be reduced” (Belgian Official Gazette, 08/10/2013). Since obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and different forms of cancer, the share of obese adults must decrease to move towards the goal.

International comparison: for the EU27 Eurostat publishes data on adult obesity for 2008, 2014, 2017 and 2019. In 2019, Belgium positioned with 16.3% very close to the EU average of 16.5%. In that year, Romania ranked first with 10.9% and Malta last with 28.7% (Eurostat, 2021).

UN indicator: the selected indicator does not correspond to any monitoring indicator for the SDGs but is related to target 2.2. The indicators that are presented for the follow-up of the SDGs are indeed not adapted to the Belgian situation (2.2.1 Prevalence of stunting (...) among children under 5 years of age) or are not followed up by Belgium (2.2.2. Prevalence of malnutrition (...) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)). Adult obesity is the consequence of a form of malnutrition and a relevant problem in Belgium. This problem has been chosen to follow up malnutrition in Belgium.

Sources

• General

  • SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

  • Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

  • UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

  • UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

• Specific

  • Belgian Official Gazette: http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/welcome.pl; research on http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/doc/rech_f.htm (consulted on 24/09/2020).

  • Eurostat (2021), Obesity rate by body mass index (BMI), SDG_02_10, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ (consulted on 03/11/2021).

  • WHO (2015), Obesity and overweight. Fact sheet N°311, http://www.who.int.

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