Obesity rates have continued to climb sharply in many low- and middle-income countries over the past four decades, while levels have stabilised in much of Western Europe and other high-income nations, according to a major new global study. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The research, published in Nature, analysed data from 232 million people across 200 countries and territories between 1980 and 2024. Researchers say the study challenges the idea of describing obesity as a single "global epidemic",