Europe · Country profile
Obesity in Malta
30.6% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 62nd highest of 199 countries.
30.6%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 25.2%–36.2%
Source: WHO
152 thousand
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
12.8%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#62
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Malta in numbers
In 2024, about 30.6% of adults in Malta were living with obesity — about 1 in 3 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 25.2% to 36.2%). That is roughly 152 thousand people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 62nd highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s Europe region (20.9%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 21.8%. Since then it has gone up by 8.8 percentage points. In people, that is a change from about 53 thousand to 152 thousand adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Men are more likely to live with obesity than women: 33.1% compared with 27.6%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 12.8% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 4.1% in 1980 — around 9,000 young people.
For context, 9.6% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 40.7% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 3,407 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Malta: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 17.0% to 33.1%, and women from 25.7% to 27.6%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 17.0% | 25.7% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 18.0% | 25.5% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 19.4% | 25.4% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 21.7% | 25.7% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 25.3% | 26.6% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 29.1% | 27.7% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 31.8% | 28.4% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 32.8% | 28.4% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 33.0% | 28.0% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 33.1% | 27.6% | 16.2% |
Age-standardized WHO estimates. Shaded bands show the 95% uncertainty range.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Children & teens (5–19) with obesity in Malta
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 4.5% to 14.9%, and girls from 3.5% to 10.6%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Malta compared (2024)
What this meansHow Malta’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Malta30.6%
- High income countries24.7%
- Europe (WHO region)20.9%
- World16.2%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Malta
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,683 calories a day in 1961 to 3,407 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Malta
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 58. Suriname30.8%
- 61. Lebanon30.7%
- 62. Australia30.6%
- 62. Malta30.6%
- 64. Oman30.5%
- 65. Brazil30.1%
- 65. Guyana30.1%
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