% Obese Females Minus % Obese Males over Europe

46 comments
  1. What’s up with the big boys in Switzerland?

    Also, why are the ladies in turkey so thicc compared to other countries? 😀

  2. This is probably heavily correlated with the life expectancy gap, ~~both~~ because old people are generally fatter. Post-Soviet European countries (minus Estonia I believe) have way more old women than old men, thus also more fat women than fat men.

    At the same time, Switzerland has a very low life expectancy gap, so men men have the opportunity to get old and fat.

  3. Let me explain, I don’t know why, but Turkish women, especially the more conservative ones, stop taking care of themselves after they get married and have children. This is especially true for old and covered women, not covered women are generally much better in this regard. Young people, on the other hand, are completely different. They care more about themselves. this is mostly the old people’s “I’ll take care of myself until I get married, then I’ll let it go” mind.

  4. It would be nice if it was adjusted for the amount of males and females in each country. For example it’s quite a given that Russia would have more obese females than males since they have so many more females overall.

  5. Here’s my explanation for Turkey, with a personal anecdote:

    We have great food. We have light, healthy dishes as well as heavy, rich dishes with lots of carbs. However, the latter is far more affordable.

    As our economy goes down the toilet, healthy ingredients become more and more expensive. Erdogan’s economic policies have ruined domestic agriculture (making fruits and vegetables significantly more expensive) and the meat industry is becoming less and less accessible to the average consumer.

    What do you eat when you can’t regularly afford meat or veggies? You eat tons of carbs in the form of bread, pasta and pastries.

    Blue collar Turkish men usually work physically intensive jobs that keep them comparatively more fit, like construction. Blue collar Turkish women usually have stationary manufacturing jobs. Turkey is a very blue collar country, with the majority of the population receiving minimum wage. We also have a lot of housewives.

    My mother works at an electronics manufacturer. She’s been working overtime 6 days of the week for the past month. Like *many* other Turkish women, her job entails a lot of sitting down and very little movement. She has no time to work out or even pick up any hobbies. She regularly gets sick from working too much.

    Basically:

    Shitty, stationary jobs = No time for fitness

    Housewives = No income = No fitness

    Looming economic crisis = Bad food

  6. I know nothing about this, so I’ll contribute with this comment of random blabbering.

    In old Scandinavia, being overweight was a sign of wealth, so many people try to uphold these old traditions.

    Or I’m just some Scandinavian who’s ashamed of my own weight.

  7. Germanic and Finno-Ugric men are fatter than Germanic and Finno-Ugric women.

    Romance and Slavic men are thinner than Romance and Slvoc Women.

    Got it.

  8. Honestly surprised by Russia. Never have I looked at Russia and thought the women there are obese.

  9. UK is definitely right on this one.
    Every time I was out in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dover and Birmingham, I saw way more obese women than men.
    Also most were in their early 20s/20s in general

  10. I bet russia has less obese males only because we’ve got insane difference in gender’s life expectancies. Men simply don’t get to be old enough

  11. There might be slight misinformation since male strongmen (and just borderline obese men who start training muscle) can go in to the obese category via BMI, and the Nordics do have a significant strongman culture.

    Othervice it seems quite weird and almost as if male obesity correlates with higher income. Maybe it’s about higher male life expectancy and older people being fatter?

  12. So basically all “true” germanic countries have more obese males compared to the rest of europe, not counting Hungary and Ireland do to their difference beeing minor in comparrison

    My first guess would be that generally speaking wealth makes men more obese then women cinsidering these are the generally wealthiest countries or europe (except Ireland and Hungary) with France, another wealthy country, beeing basically on the edge of flipping as well. Meanwhile the comparebly poorer countries in eastern europe or even the slightly poorer ones in southern europe have more obese women. I would guess this is do to “richer” people generally speaking doing less physical labour and thereby having less physical demand while still eating normally. Meanwhile a lot of the poorer countries have men working more physical labour.

    Also it would be interesting how much life expectancy comes into play here considering women life significantly longer then men. Male/female life expectency in western europe is 79 /84 while in eastern europe 69/79, so there is definitly a bigger proportion of old women alive in eastern europe then in western europe (data: [https://www.statista.com/statistics/274514/life-expectancy-in-europe/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/274514/life-expectancy-in-europe/))

    In short I think old Babushka and suicidal “alcoholic” men are shifting the data in eastern europe in the womens favour. Meanwhile the germanic countries are just rich, snobbish couch potatoes whos males life to long 😀

    PS: By “true” germanic I mean the countries germanians were/are from (and were it remained the dominant influence) so the UK doesnt count and Belgium gets pulled in do to the flemish beeing dutch in self exile. Same for germans in Luxembourg and Switzerland beeing the dominant group while scandinavia, germany and austria are 100% german dominance. Im obviously mainly speaking in culture here so dont get angry 🙂

  13. In developing countries, obesity is an __urban__ problem and more common in __women__.

    In high-income countries like in Europe and North America, obesity is a __rural__ problem and not related to gender.

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