Africa · Country profile
Obesity in Zambia
11.6% of adults live with obesity (2024). That ranks 164th highest of 199 countries.
11.6%
of adults live with obesity (2024)
Likely range 9.3%–14.2%
Source: WHO
1.1 million
adults with obesity (estimated number)
WHO rate × UN population
Source: WHO; UN WPP 2024
4.6%
of children & teens (5–19) live with obesity (2024)
Source: WHO
#164
highest adult obesity out of 199 countries
#1 = highest share
Source: WHO
The story of Zambia in numbers
In 2024, about 11.6% of adults in Zambia were living with obesity — about 1 in 9 adults, according to World Health Organization estimates (the likely range is 9.3% to 14.2%). That is roughly 1.1 million people aged 18 and over.
That is lower than the world average of 16.2%, and ranks 164th highest out of 199 countries. It is about level with the average for WHO’s Africa region (12.7%).
Back in 1980, the figure was 1.6%. Since then it has gone up by 10.0 percentage points — about 7.2 times the 1980 level. In people, that is a change from about 33 thousand to 1.1 million adults, partly because the population itself changed.
Women are more likely to live with obesity than men: 17.1% compared with 5.6%.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 19, 4.6% were living with obesity in 2024, compared with 0.3% in 1980 — around 370 thousand young people.
Obesity is not the only weight problem here: 8.2% of adults are underweight (BMI under 18.5). Health experts call this mix the “double burden” of malnutrition.
For context, 12.6% of adults had diabetes in 2022, 14.1% of adults did not get enough physical activity in 2022 and the food supply provided about 2,170 calories per person per day in 2023. These numbers don’t prove what causes obesity, but they help paint the picture.
Zambia has a national tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, first introduced in 2018, according to the World Bank’s Global SSB Tax Database.
How it changed
Adults with obesity in Zambia: men, women and the world
What this meansSince 1980, the share of men went from 0.6% to 5.6%, and women from 2.4% to 17.1%.
- Men
- Women
- World
Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Men | Women | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 0.6% | 2.4% | 5.4% |
| 1985 | 0.8% | 2.8% | 6.0% |
| 1990 | 1.0% | 3.4% | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 1.4% | 4.2% | 7.6% |
| 2000 | 1.8% | 5.5% | 8.7% |
| 2005 | 2.4% | 7.2% | 10.1% |
| 2010 | 2.9% | 9.3% | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 3.5% | 11.8% | 13.0% |
| 2020 | 4.4% | 14.7% | 14.6% |
| 2024 | 5.6% | 17.1% | 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 Zambia
What this meansSince 1980, the share of boys went from 0.3% to 4.1%, and girls from 0.3% to 5.1%.
- Boys
- Girls
BMI-for-age more than 2 standard deviations above the WHO growth reference median.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Zambia compared (2024)
What this meansHow Zambia’s adult obesity rate compares with its region, countries at a similar income level, and the world.
- World16.2%
- Africa (WHO region)12.7%
- Lower-middle income countries12.0%
- Zambia11.6%
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.
Food supply: calories per person per day in Zambia
What this meansThe food available per person went from 2,102 calories a day in 1961 to 2,170 in 2023. This counts food available, not food actually eaten.
- Zambia
- World
Countries ranked nearby
- 162. Indonesia11.8%
- 163. Djibouti11.7%
- 164. Senegal11.6%
- 164. Zambia11.6%
- 166. Tanzania11.5%
- 167. Kenya11.3%
- 167. Switzerland11.3%
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