Scottish Health Survey 2017: summary report

Key findings from the Scottish Health Survey 2017 report.

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Chapter 8: Obesity

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  • Around two thirds (65%) of adults were overweight or obese ( BMI of 25 kg/m² or greater). This has remained stable since 2008 (fluctuating between 64% and 65%).
  • Levels of obesity, including morbid obesity ( BMI of 30 kg/m² or greater), among all adults remained at 29%, unchanged since 2015. This is significantly higher than in 2003 (24%).

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33% of adults were a healthy weight (a BMI of between 18.5 and 25)

A greater proportion of men were overweight or obese than women of adults were a healthy weight (a BMI of between 18.5 and 25)

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Levels of obesity tended to increase with age

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  • In 2016/2017, the proportion of men and women with a raised waist circumference (men: larger than 102 cm, women: larger than 88cm) had increased since 2003. For women the increase was more profound, from 39% in 2003 to 54% in 2016/2017 (an increase of 16 percentage points), whereas for men the increase was from 28% in 2003 to 38% in 2016/2017 (an increase of 10 percentage points).
  • Health risk based on BMI and waist circumference increased with age for both men and women.

Increased health risk based on BMI and waist circumference

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Categorised as ‘high risk’ or above

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  • Prevalence of children at risk of obesity in 2017 was 13%, with levels showing a steady decline since 2014 (16-17% between 2003 and 2014), this is largely due to the decline in prevalence among boys from 20% in 2012 to 12% in 2017.
  • In 2017, the proportion of children of a healthy weight decreased with age; with children aged 2-6 being the most likely to fall within the healthy weight range (78%), compared with 66% of children aged 12-15.

72% of children (aged 2-15) were of healthy weight

Contact

Julie Landsberg

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