Europe · Country profile
Obesity in Spain
15.3% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 143rd highest of 199 countries.
15.3%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 12.5%–18.4%
Source: WHO
7.6 million
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
11.5%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#143
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Spain in numbers
In 2024, about 15.3% of adults in Spain were living with obesity — about 1 in 7 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 12.5% to 18.4%). That is roughly 7.6 million people aged 18 and over.
That is close to the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 143rd highest out of 199 countries. It is below the average for WHO’s Europe region (20.9%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 12.6%. Since then it has gone up by 2.7 percentage points. In people, that is a change from about 3.5 million to 7.6 million adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Men are more likely to live with obesity than women: 17.5% compared with 13.0%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 11.5% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 4.3% in 1980 — around 808 thousand young people.
For context, 3.6% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 21.8% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 3,377 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Spain has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 2021, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Spain: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 8.9% to 17.5%, and women from 15.7% to 13.0%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 8.9% | 15.7% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 10.3% | 16.2% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 12.0% | 16.8% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 14.5% | 17.6% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 18.1% | 18.6% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 21.3% | 19.1% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 22.5% | 18.6% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 21.3% | 16.8% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 19.2% | 14.6% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 17.5% | 13.0% | 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 Spain
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 6.1% to 13.2%, and girls from 2.5% to 9.6%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Spain compared (2024)
What this meansHow Spain’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- High income countries24.7%
- Europe (WHO region)20.9%
- World16.2%
- Spain15.3%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Spain
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,662 calories a day in 1961 to 3,377 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Spain
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 140. Austria16.5%
- 141. Thailand16.4%
- 142. Cameroon16.0%
- 143. Spain15.3%
- 144. Somalia14.9%
- 145. Netherlands14.7%
- 145. Zimbabwe14.7%
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