A new Nesta report has laid bare the scale of the UK’s obesity crisis: £126bn a year, more than double earlier estimates. With 64% of adults now overweight or obese, the impact on our health, workforce, and public finances is rising fast.
Experts are urging government to shift gears from voluntary industry action to bold preventative policies like expanding the sugar tax and redesigning our environments for health.
Key figures behind the £126bn cost:
- £71.4bn linked to lost quality of life and early deaths. Obesity increases the risk of serious long-term health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and several cancers, reducing life expectancy and driving high costs from years spent in ill health.
- £31bn lost to economic productivity. Includes £9.7bn from lower productivity among those working, £8.3bn from sick days, and £12.1bn from people leaving the workforce early. These losses impact the economy more than the total spent on policing.
- £12.6bn in NHS treatment costs. Reflects increasing demand on NHS services for weight-related health conditions, from medication and surgery to long-term management of chronic illness, with further cost pressures expected as obesity levels rise.