NEW figures show more than six out of ten Australian adults are too fat.
According to a new report 10.8 million Australians are overweight or obese, which is rather disconcerting as the country only has a population of around 22.6 million.
The study, conducted by the National Health Reporting Authority, found the obesity rate has ballooned from 11 per cent in 1989 to 28 per cent in 2011-12.
The heath authority divided the country according to Medicare local areas and found even the slimmest local area in Australia has weight problems.
Eastern Sydney, the slimmest area, has 49 per cent – almost half – of residents obese or overweight.
At the other end of the scales, the fattest area is western NSW, with 79 per cent of people overweight or obese. The second fattest is Townsville/Mackay in Queensland, followed by country South Australia, Victoria’s Gippsland and Western Australia’s Goldfields/Midwest.
In these areas three quarters of the population are overweight.
The report considers a body mass index of 25 or more as overweight, and 30 or more as obese.
While overweight or obesity rates increase with geographic remoteness and lower socioeconomic status, 54 per cent of adults in the wealthiest urban areas are overweight or obese and 19 per cent are obese.
The proportion of the population in the healthy weight range was 36 per cent.
The Council of Australian Governments who requested the report are hoping to come up with more localised solutions to increase the number of Australians in the healthy weight range to 42 per cent by 2018.
Photo: AAP Image/Dave Hunt
