The economic crisis is making the Chinese fat
In China, obesity is a fairly recent disease. However, the economic crisis is rapidly changing the situation and this means higher healthcare costs but also higher profits for multinational food companies and pharmaceutical companies. Facts, numbers and comments
Among the various effects of the slowdown in the Chinese economy is also the increase in obesity in the country. In fact, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 37% of the population is overweight or obese both because fewer and fewer people carry out physically demanding jobs and because consumers choose cheaper and less healthy foods.
This, in addition to being a health problem, further weighs on an economy that already has to deal with issues that were once virtually unknown such as the demographic winter and the aging of the population but also youth unemployment.
WORK AND THE INCREASE OF OBESITY
The transformation of work is affecting the health of Chinese people. On the one hand, technological innovation and the increase in automation in factories and farms makes work less physically demanding, on the other, stress and long hours away from home require quick, often unhealthy meals. But in the end, regardless of your job and whether you live in a big city or a rural area, the two things in common are little physical activity and a poor diet.
For example, in recent years, an abundance of housing and infrastructure has resulted in millions of construction and manufacturing workers becoming drivers for ride-sharing or delivery companies .
THE WEIGHT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
But in addition to changing jobs, in a deflationary context, consumers prefer cheaper meals , even to the detriment of their health, and parents are forced to cut back on their children's sports expenses .
“Economic crises often lead to changes in people's lifestyles,” said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Eating habits can become irregular and social activities can decrease – he explained -. These alterations to the daily routine can contribute to increasing the incidence of obesity and, consequently, diabetes."
OBESITY TODAY AND TOMORROW
In July, Guo Yanhong, a senior official at the National Health Commission said that obese and overweight people in China represent "a major public health problem." According to the latest data from the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, "more than half of the country's adults are obese or overweight", a figure even higher than the estimate of 37% provided by the WHO.
Here, therefore, China, as has already happened for many years in the West, has to deal with a new challenge – including a fiscal one: the obesity rate, which could grow much more rapidly and increase healthcare costs. For Yanzhong it will continue to "increase exponentially, burdening the healthcare system".
A BMC Public Health study reported by Reuters estimates that weight-related treatment costs will rise from 8% in 2022 to 22% of the healthcare budget by 2030. The estimate is "conservative" and does not take into account rising costs healthcare. This will also, the news agency notes, “bring further pressure on indebted local governments and reduce China's ability to direct resources to more productive areas to stimulate growth.”
A PROBLEM NOT YET AS SERIOUS AS IN THE WEST
Although doctors predict that many overweight Chinese could cross the obesity threshold in the next decade, WHO data shows that China is still far from the dismal numbers of other countries. In fact, in China only 8% of the population is considered obese, a higher percentage than that of neighboring Japan and South Korea, but far lower than the 42% in the United States.
This, Reuters recalls, is partly because it is a relatively new problem in China, which experienced widespread famine until the 1960s.
However, the percentage of obese children in China has risen to 15.2% in 2022 compared to 1.3% in 1990, which although remains lower than the 22% in the United States, still exceeds the 6% in Japan, the 12 % of Great Britain and Canada and 4% of India. In particular, obesity in girls has gone from 0.6% in 1990 to 7.7% in 2022.
THE LUCK OF FAST FOOD CHAINS AND PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES
But these data, alarming for public health and for the state coffers, make multinational food and pharmaceutical companies rub their hands. In fact, according to Daxue Consulting , the Chinese fast food market should reach 1.8 trillion yuan (253 .85 billion dollars) in 2025, compared to 892 billion yuan in 2017.
And Goldman Sachs estimates that the market for drugs to treat overweight and obesity could grow to $100 billion by 2030.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/crisi-economica-obesita-cina/ on Sun, 15 Sep 2024 02:47:53 +0000.