Eastern Mediterranean · Country profile
Obesity in Somalia
14.9% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 144th highest of 199 countries.
14.9%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 10.2%–20.2%
Source: WHO
1.2 million
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
3.2%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#144
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Somalia in numbers
In 2024, about 14.9% of adults in Somalia were living with obesity — about 1 in 7 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 10.2% to 20.2%). That is roughly 1.2 million people aged 18 and over.
That is close to the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 144th highest out of 199 countries. It is below the average for WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region (28.8%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 2.2%. Since then it has gone up by 12.7 percentage points — about 6.8 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 55 thousand to 1.2 million adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 23.3% compared with 6.0%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 3.2% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 0.3% in 1980 — around 237 thousand young people.
Obesity is not the only weight problem here: 17.5% of adults are underweight (BMI under 18.5). Health experts call this mix the “double burden” of malnutrition.
For context, 10.0% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 18.1% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 1,812 calories per person per day in 2022. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Somalia: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 0.6% to 6.0%, and women from 3.8% to 23.3%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 0.6% | 3.8% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 0.8% | 4.5% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 1.0% | 5.5% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 1.4% | 6.8% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 1.8% | 8.8% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 2.4% | 11.3% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 3.0% | 14.1% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 3.7% | 17.3% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 4.8% | 20.6% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 6.0% | 23.3% | 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 Somalia
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 0.3% to 3.2%, and girls from 0.4% to 3.2%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Somalia compared (2024)
What this meansHow Somalia’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Eastern Mediterranean (WHO region)28.8%
- World16.2%
- Somalia14.9%
- Low income countries10.1%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Somalia
What this meansThe food available per person went from 1,490 calories a day in 2010 to 1,812 in 2022. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Somalia
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 141. Thailand16.4%
- 142. Cameroon16.0%
- 143. Spain15.3%
- 144. Somalia14.9%
- 145. Netherlands14.7%
- 145. Zimbabwe14.7%
- 147. Ghana14.5%
Last updated