Crisis in India as country warned 450m will soon be too fat - 'only China is worse'

There is panic in India as the country has become concerned over an obesity crisis. A large, round belly has been used in Indian films and art to signal corruption or laziness, and in literature to suggest comfort or complacency. Outside of the country's main cities, the physical feature was seen as a sign of wealth. But the Asian country is realising that it is now in the grips of a crisis, as it had the second-highest number of overweight or obese adults in 2021 - 180million affected.

This was behind only China, the BBC reports. Now, a new Lancet study has suggested that this number may soar to 450million by 2050. Experts suggest that this would equate to nearly 33% of the country's projected population. Currently, estimates suggest that there are 1.438billion people living in India, and this is projected to reach 1.66billion by 2050.

Around 40% of women and 12% of men in India have abdominal obesity, a waist over 90cm for men and 80cm for women, according to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5).

This, for the first time, measured waist and hip sizes.

Current data suggests that, among women aged 30 to 49, nearly half already showed signs of it.

Research has also found that Urban populations are more affected, particularly as regards high waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratios.

A Body Mass Index (BMI) score helps identify if you are overweight.

The NHS notes that, if you have an Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean family background, you'll need to use a lower BMI score to measure overweight and obesity.

These are set out below.

• 23 to 27.4 – you're in the overweight range
• 27.5 or above – you're in the obese range

The service adds: "BMI score has some limitations because it measures whether a person is carrying too much weight but not too much fat. For example, people who are very muscular, like professional sportspeople, can have a high BMI without much fat.

"But for most people, BMI is a useful indication of whether they're a healthy weight."