A decade ago, in March 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi first mentioned obesity in his 18th Mann Ki Baat address. Since then, Modi has spoken about the issue on at least 18 occasions, including during his last Independence Day speech.

In roughly the same time, the proportion of India’s men and women, aged between 15 and 49 years, who were overweight or obese increased by about 10 percentage points, according to the sixth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) conducted during 2023-24.

Until 2005-06, the survey collected data for men or women aged 15-49 who were ever married (including individuals who were widowed, divorced, separated or deserted). Since 2015-16, it includes all men or women aged 15-49 regardless of marital status.

Overall, 30.7 percent Indian women are now overweight or obese, the survey shows, nearly triple the proportion in 1998-99, when the survey first captured this indicator for women. Among men, 27.3 percent have a BMI of 25 or higher, again nearly triple the proportion in 2005-06, when the survey first measured the indicator for men.

The survey classifies adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher as overweight or obese. Earlier reports also included separate numbers for Indians with BMIs of 30 or higher, classified as obese, but the current factsheet for the latest survey does not separate these measures.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies obesity as a “chronic, relapsing disease arising from complex interactions between genetics, neurobiology, eating behaviours, access to healthy diet, market forces, and the broader environment”. Globally, 43 percent of adults are now overweight, up from 25 percent in 1990.

In 2021, higher-than-optimal BMI caused an estimated 3.7 million deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, neurological disorders, chronic respiratory diseases, and digestive disorders, the WHO has noted. India’s 2025-26 Economic Survey points to unhealthy diets, sedentary lifestyles and increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods as contributing factors.

A 2020 modelling study projected that the prevalence of overweight among Indian adults could more than double and obesity could triple by 2040. By 2060, India’s economic cost of obesity is projected to rise to $839 billion, third globally after China and the United States, and amounting to 2.47 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to a 2022 report by the World Obesity Federation.

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