One in six people (16.3%) over 18 years old in the European Union was obese in 2025, according to Eurostat data released on September 4. More than half of the bloc's population, specifically 51.7%, was overweight, combining obese people with those who were overweight, who represented 35.4% of the adult population.
Portugal recorded an obesity rate of 17% last year, slightly above the European average. Among Member States, Malta (26.6%), Latvia (24.6%) and Finland (23.8%) had the highest obesity rates, while Italy (7.0%), Greece (12.8%) and Romania (12.9%) had the lowest.
Across all 27 Member States, men had a higher incidence of obesity than women, at 17.4% versus 15.3%, and also of overweight, at 41.9% versus 29.3%. On the other hand, women were more prone to being underweight, at 2.9% versus only 1.0% in men.
