Davos World Economic Forum: Reflections on the causes and risks of obesity. From 23 to 25 January, the World Economic Forum was held in Davos, Switzerland.

During this forum, a round table was devoted to obesity. Experts have mobilized to call to fight against this phenomenon. They worried about the rise of obesity, which has become a near-global pandemic, demanding concrete and urgent actions. Their concern expressed at this forum is such that they believe that this scourge must now be fought by politicians in the same way as smoking.

Globally, the number of overweight cases has doubled since 1980, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This concerns today 1.4 billion people.

Davos World Economic Forum Round Table on Obesity


Linda Fried, Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia told the forum that "if things continue like this, there could be 50 to 60 percent of the overweight adult population in 20 years."

The obesity figures discussed at the Davos forum

The figures mentioned on the occasion of this forum indicate that over the past 15 years, the measurements of the French have evolved quickly but not proportionally:

  • The average size has increased by 7 mm
  • The average weight has increased by 3.6 kg
  • Average waist circumference increased from 85.2 cm to 90.5 cm

Forum Davos: explanations on this phenomenon of growing obesity

The experts at the Davos forum also provided explanations on the origin of this growing obesity phenomenon: according to Lisa MacCallum Carter, present at the forum, the obesity would be "linked to the crisis of inactivity", ie the rapid increase in sedentary life in the world.

Lisa MacCallum Carter also told the forum that US citizens are 32% less active than in 1967, while the current generation of Chinese has become 45% less active than the previous one.

Another observation made at this forum is that obesity is affecting more and more low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban areas.

Forum on obesity, what conclusions to draw?

Given the explanations of the experts present at this forum, as well as the state of play of the situation that has been established there, this phenomenon of growing obesity is explained in particular by a way of life become much more sedentary. Indeed, the new technologies have a strong impact on our way of life: the digital communication era allows us to lead a much less physically active life: the possibility of shopping online, home delivery of products and services of all kinds, more and more professions based on online technology, telecommuting more and more developed, ...

In summary, and this is the ambiguity of the situation, obesity is becoming more prevalent and is one of the consequences of our technological evolutions.