Report Warns of Soaring Obesity Rates

9/24/2010

The number of people struggling to keep up with life and health insurance premiums is likely to only keep growing in the coming years, based on a recent report warning that obesity levels and their associated health risks will only keep getting worse.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which ranks the world's most developed economies among its members, released a report this week containing dire predictions for the overall health of people in many countries.

The report said that the U.S. is "the fattest country in the OECD" and warned that in a decade, some 75 percent of the population could be either overweight or obese.

This problem has typically been blamed on increasingly sedentary lifestyles and poor eating habits, but the OECD cited other factors that could be at work here, including government subsidies that can have the unwanted effect of promoting unhealthy diets and less physical activity.

This trend is problematic for individuals and employers because other recent reports have confirmed that obesity carries added financial burdens in the form of higher life insurance premiums and more medical expenses.

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