Western Pacific · Country profile
Obesity in Vanuatu
22.6% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 99th highest of 199 countries.
22.6%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 17.4%–28.3%
Source: WHO
40 thousand
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
#99
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Vanuatu in numbers
In 2024, about 22.6% of adults in Vanuatu were living with obesity — about 1 in 4 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 17.4% to 28.3%). That is roughly 40 thousand people aged 18 and over.
That is higher than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 99th highest out of 199 countries. It is above the average for WHO’s Western Pacific region (9.7%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 11.0%. Since then it has gone up by 11.6 percentage points — about 2.1 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 5,000 to 40 thousand adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 27.7% compared with 17.4%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 11.5% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 1.7% in 1980 — around 13 thousand young people.
For context, 22.3% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 7.5% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 2,909 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Vanuatu has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 2002, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Vanuatu: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 9.2% to 17.4%, and women from 13.7% to 27.7%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 9.2% | 13.7% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 10.1% | 14.8% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 11.1% | 16.1% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 12.0% | 17.6% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 12.9% | 19.2% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 13.7% | 20.8% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 14.4% | 22.3% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 15.0% | 24.0% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 16.2% | 26.0% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 17.4% | 27.7% | 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 Vanuatu
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 2.0% to 15.1%, and girls from 1.3% to 7.7%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Vanuatu compared (2024)
What this meansHow Vanuatu’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- Vanuatu22.6%
- World16.2%
- Lower-middle income countries12.0%
- Western Pacific (WHO region)9.7%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Vanuatu
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,436 calories a day in 1961 to 2,909 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Vanuatu
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 95. Venezuela23.0%
- 97. Ukraine22.8%
- 98. Gabon22.7%
- 99. Vanuatu22.6%
- 100. Latvia22.3%
- 100. Moldova22.3%
- 102. Iceland22.2%
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