25
ISSUES: Fitness & Health
Chapter 2: Understanding obesity
4 Asnawi Abdullah, Anna Peeters,
Maximilian de Courten, Johannes
Stoelwinder (2010) The magnitude
of association between overweight
and obesity and the risk of diabetes:
A metaanalysis of prospective cohort
studies. Diabetes Research and Clinical
Practice.
5 Health and Social Care Information
Centre (2015) Health Survey for
England 2014.
6 Gatineau M, Dent M (2011) Obesity
and Mental Health. Oxford: National
Obesity Observatory.
7 McKinsey Global Institute (2014)
Overcoming
Obesity:
An
Initial
Economic Analysis.
8 Estimates for UK in 2014/15 are
based on: Scarborough, P. (2011) The
economic burden of ill health due
to diet, physical inactivity, smoking,
alcohol and obesity in the UK: an
update to 2006–07 NHS costs. Journal
of Public Health. May 2011, 1-9.
Uplifted to take into account inflation.
No adjustment has been made for
slight changes in overweight and
obesity rates over this period. It’s been
assumed England costs account for
around 85% of UK costs.
9 Health and Social Care Information
Centre
(2015)
National
Child
Measurement Programme, England
2014/15.
10 Yvonne Kelly, Alice Goisis, and
Amanda Sacker (2015) Why are poorer
children at higher risk of obesity and
overweight? A UK cohort study. The
European Journal of Public Health.
11 Start Active, Stay Active: A report on
physical activity from the four home
countries’ Chief Medical Officers, July
2011.
12 PHE (2014) The link between pupil
health and wellbeing and attainment
uploads/system/uploads/attachment_
data/file/370686/HT_briefing_
layoutvFINALvii.pdf.
13 Chanfreau et al. (2016) Out of school
activities during primary school and
KS2 attainment.
14 Health and Social Care Information
Centre (2015) Health Survey for
England 2014.
15 There are 1.6 million obese children
aged 2-15 in England: Health and Social
Care Information Centre (2015) Health
Survey for England 2014 Trend Tables.
August 2016
Ö
Theabove information is reprinted
with kind permission from the
House of Commons Library.
Please visit
for further information.
© Crown copyright 2017
What does obesity cost the economy?
By Laura O’Brien
In brief
Claim
Obesity costs the economy £27 billion
a year.
Conclusion
This is the best estimate we’ve got of
the total cost of obesity and being
overweight to the NHS and the
economy. But it’s based on analysis
that’s over a decade old and there’s a
lot of uncertainty to the numbers.
“Obesity drives disease.
It increases the risk of
cancer, diabetes and
heart disease – and it
costs our economy £27
billion a year”
George Osborne, 16 March 2016
Announcing a tax on sugary drinks
companies yesterday, the Chancellor
said it would help to prevent obesity,
which he said costs the economy £27
billion a year.
£27 billion may be the best estimate
we’ve got for the total costs to the
NHS and the economy of people
considered to be overweight and
obese in England, but there are issues
with it. We don’t know enough to be as
precise as saying the cost is £27 billion.
Some of the research underpinning the
figure is over a decade old. Patterns of
obesity may have changed since then,
and the economy definitely has. It also
relied on some assumptions that were
uncertain at the time.
Where the figure comes
from
The Government takes its estimate of
£27 billion from the National Obesity
Observatory, now part of Public Health
England.
This took the figure from2007 research,
which in turn based its calculations in
part on 2004 research by Parliament’s
Health Committee.
The 2004 research put the total cost of
people considered obese at between
£3.3 billion and 3.7 billion in 2002. That
was made up of the cost of treating
obesity and its consequences – about
£1 billion – and the earnings lost due
to sickness and premature mortality
among obese people.
It said that “if in crude terms” the cost
of people considered overweight was
half that of people considered obese,
and given that there are about twice
as many people who are overweight
as obese, the total costs of both
overweight and obese people would
be about £6.6–7.4 billion a year. So
about £7 billion.
So the research found the total costs
of people being overweight or obese
(£7 billion) were seven times the costs
of treating obese patients (£1 billion).
The more recent estimate from 2007
is based on the assumption that the
total costs of people considered to be
overweight or obese continue to be
seven times the cost of NHS treatment.
It estimated that the cost of treating
obesity alone would be £3.9 billion
by 2015, based on projections of the
population’s body mass index profile,
