LUXEMBOURG / RankWire.AI / – According to Eurostat data, 16.3% of European Union adults were affected by obesity in 2025, with an additional 35.4% classified as pre-obese. These two groups combined accounted for 51.7% of individuals aged 18 and older, indicating that over half of the EU’s adult population experienced excess weight. Eurostat employs body mass index, or BMI, as the standard for comparing weight categories across the participating countries.
Men showed higher prevalence rates of both obesity and pre-obesity compared to women, with an obesity rate of 17.4% for men versus 15.3% for women. Pre-obesity affected 41.9% of men and 29.3% of women. When combined, the overweight category reached 59.3% among men, while the corresponding figure for women was 44.6%. Underweight was more prevalent among women, at 2.9%, compared with 1.0% among men.
Across the EU, national data revealed significant variation. Malta led with an obesity rate of 26.6% among adults, followed by Latvia at 24.6%, and Finland at 23.2%. Italy recorded the lowest prevalence at 7.0%. Greece’s rate was 12.8%, and Romania’s stood at 12.9%. These figures highlight nearly a 20 percentage point difference between Malta and Italy, the highest and lowest in the dataset.
Malta tops EU obesity rankings
Body mass index compares an individual’s weight in kilograms to the square of height in metres. A BMI of 30 or above classifies a person as obese, while a BMI from 25 to below 30 indicates pre-obesity. The broader overweight category combines both. A BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight, providing a standardized statistical basis for comparing adult weight levels across EU nations.
The 2025 data also reveal that pre-obesity was more common than obesity among adults, with more than one in three falling into the pre-obese group, and about one in six reaching the obesity threshold. The combined figure pushes the EU’s overweight prevalence above 50%. Men exhibited significantly higher pre-obesity levels than women, although the gap in obesity rates between genders was narrower.
EU monitors obesity within health objectives
This obesity metric also supports European efforts to track the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It contributes to monitoring SDG 2, which addresses hunger, food security, and improved nutrition, as well as SDG 3, focusing on health and well-being. Applying consistent BMI categories enables countries to compare adult weight trends over time and provides a reliable statistical measure across national populations within the European Union.
The 2025 findings demonstrate that excess weight is among the most common weight issues faced by EU adults, with obesity alone affecting 16.3%, and pre-obesity accounting for another 35.4%. Malta, Latvia, and Finland recorded the highest obesity rates in the bloc, while Italy, Greece, and Romania had the lowest. The figures reveal considerable variation among nations but collectively confirm that overweight categories encompass a majority of the adult population across the EU.