Prague – One third of the population. So many people struggle with obesity according to the World Health Organization (WHO). At the same time, the Czech Republic’s ranking improved significantly: it even topped the rankings in Europe.

“We already have gold medals in the field of obesity and overweight. If this continues, in a few years we will also win in the field of type II diabetes,” emphasizes Marie Nejedlá, a doctor and head of the Public Health Support Center at the State Health Institute. .

As the Czech population increases, medical costs also increase. According to doctors, most of the diseases of civilization are related to obesity. Apart from diabetes, for example diseases of the circulatory system and cancer.

“According to our calculations, the Czech Republic spends half a trillion crowns every year to eliminate the impact of an unregulated lifestyle. And that’s just a reasonable estimate,” Nejedlá said. According to him, about half of this amount will be absorbed to treat the diseases of civilization, the rest will flow from there state budget because sick people do not work, do not pay taxes and receive social benefits.

The last 17 years of living in pain

“If the money spent is calculated for the population of the entire country, each Czech worker loses 700,000 crowns per year,” explains Nejedlá. Moreover, this number will increase in the future. Lifestyles have not changed and the costs of treating the ills of civilization are increasing rapidly.

But it’s not just about money. According to Nejedlá, because people do not follow the principles of a healthy lifestyle and become obese, they will spend the last 17 years of their lives in pain and illness. For example, in more moderate Sweden, the figure is five years less. The average Czech person contracts a disease caused by an unhealthy lifestyle at the age of 61.

But the number of people with fat pads under the skin is also increasing in other countries. Throughout the world, the number of obese people has increased by 27 percent since 1980. Among children, the figure has even reached 47 percent. “As many as 2.1 billion people, namely a third of the world’s population, are overweight than the recommended body weight,” said the World Health Organization in its latest report. Therefore, experts are already talking about a new epidemic.