In the report published by the institution, it was noted that obesity and overweight will affect more than four billion people, while the group with the fastest increase was children.

Overweight and obesity rates are expected to be highest in low- and middle-income African and Asian countries.

The report warns that the cost of obesity will exceed $4 trillion a year by 2035.

Federation President Prof. Louise Baur described the findings in the report as a clear warning for urgent action, or the world will have to suffer the consequences.

The report draws attention to the increasing rates of obesity, especially among children and youth, and emphasizes that it is expected to double compared to the level in 2020.

"Governments and decision-makers around the world should consider the systems and underlying causes of obesity and not pass on the health effects and social and economic costs of this to the younger generation," said Prof Baur.

The report also assesses the impact of obesity on low-income countries. Accordingly, nine out of 10 countries where obesity is expected to increase the most globally are low- and middle-low-income African and Asian countries.

Some of the reasons for the increase in obesity are listed as follows:

• Orientation to processed food consumption in nutritional preferences
• increased inactivity.
• Weak policies to control food supply and marketing.
• The resource problem in health services that support weight management and health education.