Luxembourg residents among slimmest in EU
Luxembourg came in third behind Italy and France in a 2019 ranking of the least overweight adults in the European Union, mostly owed to its women who are the second slimmest in the bloc, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat which published the findings on Thursday.
A total of 48% of Luxembourg's adults are overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) of over 25 - the threshold for being overweight - Eurostat said. BMI indicates body fatness, calculated based on a person's height and weight. This puts the Grand Duchy just behind Italy and France where 46% and 47% of all adults are overweight.
Yet, Luxembourg also has the biggest disparity between overweight men and women in the bloc, Eurostat found, with 59% of men and just 38% of women carrying too much weight.
Topping the overweight table are Malta and Croatia where almost two thirds of all adults have a BMI of over 25. Overall, 45% of all adults in the EU have a healthy weight range and 53% are overweight, with almost one in five of all adults classed as obese - having a BMI over 30 - according to Eurostat. Just 3% of adults living in the bloc are underweight, measured by a BMI below 18.5.
"With the exception of those aged 75 or over, the older the age group, the higher the share of overweight people," Eurostat said. The lowest share of overweight people was recorded among those aged 18 to 24 (25%), while those aged 65 to 74 had the highest share (66%).
Another determining factor for being overweight is education levels. While the share of overweight adults among those with "low education level" stood at 59% in 2019, it dropped to 54% for those with a "medium education level" and down further to 44% for adults with a "high education level". Obesity rates also decrease with education level: from 20% of adults with low education levels being obese, 17% with medium and 11% with high education levels, Eurostat said.
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