A quarter of adults in England have obesity, says a new survey of public health

The report looked into a variety of topics including obesity, cigarette smoking, e-cigarette use and alcohol consumption
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A quarter of adults in England have obesity, a new survey of public health has found.

According to the latest Health Survey for England, around a quarter of adults in England were obese in 2021. Figures showed that 26% of adults in England were obese, with obesity increasing with age from 8% of adults aged 16-24 to 32% of those aged 65-74.

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The survey also found that obesity prevalence was lowest among adults living in the least deprived areas (20%) and highest in the most deprived areas (34%). It also revealed that 11% of adults who were obese reported that they had received a diagnosis of diabetes from a doctor, compared with 5% of overweight adults and 3% of those who were neither overweight nor obese.

A higher proportion of men were either overweight or obese (69%) compared with women (59%).

The Health Survey for England is commissioned by NHS Digital and carried out by the National Centre for Social Research in conjunction with UCL. It reports on the nation’s health and surveyed 5,880 adults about a variety of topics including cigarette smoking, e-cigarette use and alcohol consumption.

For most of 2021, interviews were carried out by telephone, rather than in person because of Covid precautions. As a result of these changes in data collection, findings from 2021 are not directly comparable with those from previous years, noted NHS Digital.

A quarter of adults in England have obesity, a new survey of public health has foundA quarter of adults in England have obesity, a new survey of public health has found
A quarter of adults in England have obesity, a new survey of public health has found

What else did the report find?

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The report also found that around half of adults (49%) drank alcohol at least once a week, and about one in eight (12%) were current cigarette smokers.

It revealed that 79% of participants reported they had drunk alcohol in the last 12 months and 49% reported that they drank alcohol at least once a week. A higher proportion of men than women drank alcohol, according to the survey. It also found that men were more likely than women to drink at increasing or higher risk levels, with 28% of men and 15% of women usually drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week.

In regards to smoking, 12% of adults were current cigarette smokers whereas two-thirds of adults (66%) had never regularly smoked. More men (13%) than women (10%) reported that they currently smoked.

The survey also found that 5% of all adults were defined as current e-cigarette users and 16% of current smokers also currently used e-cigarettes, as did 13% of ex-regular smokers, but only 1% of those who had never smoked cigarettes vaped.

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