Estonia ranks fifth in Europe for adult obesity

Estonia has the fifth-highest share of obese adults in Europe, ERR reported, citing Eurostat data from 2025. Obesity is defined as a body mass index of 30 or higher.

Across the European Union, 16.3 percent of people aged 18 and over were obese in 2025. Malta had the highest rate at 26.6 percent, followed by Latvia at 24.6 percent, Finland at 23.2 percent, Ireland at 22.1 percent and Estonia at 22.0 percent.

The lowest rates were recorded in Italy at 7.0 percent, Greece at 12.8 percent and Romania at 12.9 percent.

Another 35.4 percent of the European population was overweight, with a body mass index between 25 and 30. Overall, more than half of Europe’s population was either overweight or obese.

According to Eurostat, 46.4 percent of European adults had a normal body weight, including 39.8 percent of men and 52.5 percent of women.

Men were more likely than women to be overweight. The obesity rate was 17.4 percent among men and 15.3 percent among women. In addition, 41.9 percent of men were overweight but not obese, compared with 29.3 percent of women. Being underweight was more common among women, at 2.9 percent, than among men, at 1.0 percent.

Body mass index is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared.

ERR’s Novaator science portal reported in July, citing a study by researchers from the National Institute for Health Development, that more than 60 percent of Estonian adults were overweight as of last year. Of those, 26 percent were obese.

The study found that obesity and overweight create additional costs for society, not just problems for the people affected.