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Friday 18 October 2019

Blobby Britain - Getting Fatter

The cost of the ever expanding waistlines of Blobby Brits grows ever bigger ....

Blobby Brits - Fatter Than Ever
Blobby Brits - Fatter Than Ever .....

Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggest that the cost of obesity in the UK to the taxpayer now amounts to £409 ($517.32) per annum in 2019. 

This amount, is the cost of additional healthcare spending and lost productivity. However, in some surprising new figures it has added that as the second fattest nation in Europe (Malta just pips us to the number one spot), Brits live an average of 2.7 years less than we should do. 


Obesity Rates And Years Lost
Obesity Rates And Years Lost

They produced the figures for 52 nations, so this is quite some achievement, for a nation that was slim just 70 years ago. Two thirds of British adults are now classed as overweight or obese ..... so apparently up to 40,000 of the most overweight Brits a year will be given free Fitbits on the NHS to slash risk of them developing diabetes by cutting the rates of obesity. The programme offers each participant a slot on the £435-a-head slimming scheme that offers advice, alongside free cookery and exercise classes, as well as the Fitbits.

Food As A Proportion Of Spending
Food As A Proportion Of Spending 2016 - USDA /Euromonitor

The elephant in the room is the fact that as proportion of our incomes, food is the cheapest its ever been for people in the developed world, which is oddly not completely the same for those on low incomes, who spend a greater proportion of their income on food than the better off.

Food spending varies considerably around the world. Britons spend an average of 8% of their total household expenditure on food to eat at home, whereas Greeks spend 16%, while Peruvians spend 26%, and Nigerians spend the most on food in relative terms - 59% of their household budget. These figures vary a little depending upon who does the calculations .... the Office for National Statistics (ONS) detailed a comparison between 1957 and 2017 which showed UK food spending in 2017 to be 16 per cent in the UK .... which is at odds with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) / Euromonitor  figures for 2016, reproduced in the table above.

However in 1957, the average household in the UK spent 33 per cent of their income on food (but less on rent and transport - oddly alcohol remains the same at 3 percent), according to the ONS .... But in any event, food is still cheaper than ever and plentiful, and therefore we eat too much .... which is why we are a nation of fat bastards. However we share these issues with a number of other countries.

Who ate all the pies? Why we did of course .......

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