Obesity in Children Surpasses Underweight for First Time: UN Report

Unhealthy food environments are driving a global increase in childhood and adolescent obesity, UNICEF cautions in a recent report.

Andrew Griffin

Published: 9/12/2025, 5:55:01 PM EDT

Obesity in Children Surpasses Underweight for First Time: UN Report — An overweight Chinese student plays a game on his mobile phone in Beijing, China, on July 14, 2014. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, has warned in its 2025 Child Nutrition Report that unhealthy food environments are driving a global rise in childhood and adolescent obesity.

UNICEF's just-released report, titled "Feeding Profit: How Food Environments Are Failing Children," discovered that every area of the world, save for Southeast Asia, has experienced rates of obesity that continue to grow in adults and children.

"In 2025, the global prevalence of obesity among school-age children and adolescents exceeded underweight for the first time," the report's summary said. "This dramatic shift in the face of malnutrition jeopardizes the health and future potential of children, communities and nations."

Unhealthy Food Environments

The UNICEF report describes how unhealthy food environments "expose children and adolescents to a constant supply of cheap, ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks" presented in appealing packaging, while failing to offer healthy options that are nutritious and affordable for struggling low and middle-income families.

"Our analysis finds that unhealthy foods and beverages, including ultra-processed foods and beverages, are widely available, inexpensive and aggressively marketed in the places where children live, learn and play," the report states. "The unethical business practices of the ultra-processed food and beverage industry undermine efforts to put legal measures and policies in place to protect children from unhealthy food environments."

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell stated in the report's introduction that comprehensive, mandatory legal measures and policies, including marketing restrictions, food labeling, and taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages, can protect children and adolescents.

"Meanwhile, policies such as targeted subsidies on healthy food, mandatory large-scale fortification of appropriate foods and social transfers to address income poverty are needed to increase the availability and affordability of nutritious foods for children," she said.

Excess Weight Poses Health Threat

UNICEF's findings echo those of its fellow UN agency, the World Health Organization, which reports that between 1990 and 2022, the percentage of children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years living with obesity increased fourfold, from 2 percent to 8 percent globally. For adults 18 years of age and older, those living with obesity more than doubled from seven percent to 16 percent.

The WHO describes overweight and obesity as being abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is obese. In 2019, an estimated 5 million noncommunicable disease deaths were caused by higher-than-optimal BMI.

Rates of overweight and obesity continue to grow in adults and children. From 1990 to 2022, the percentage of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years living with obesity increased fourfold from 2 percent to 8 percent globally, while the percentage of adults 18 years of age and older living with obesity more than doubled from 7 percent to 16 percent.