It turns out that four out of ten Seoul citizens tend to think they are obese, and one out of four are actually obese. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec.1 (Korea Bizwire) – It turns out that four out of ten Seoul citizens tend to think they are obese, and one out of four are actually obese.
According to an infographic released by The Seoul Institute, the city’s official think tank, 23.9 percent of citizens had a higher BMI (body mass index) than 25, which was a 3.3 percent increase compared to the 20.6 percent in 2008.
Those with a BMI under 18.5 are classified as ‘underweight’, while those with scores between 18.5 and 23 are ‘normal weight’, 23 to 25 are ‘at risk of obesity’, 25 to 30 are ‘obese’ and above 30 are ‘second degree obese’.
Subjective awareness of obesity also increased from 30 percent in 2008 to 39.1 percent last year.
Men in their 30s (37.8 percent) and 40s (37.2 percent), and women in their 60s (29 percent) and 70s (26.6 percent) held the largest portion of citizens who were classified in the ‘obese’ and ‘second degree obese’ groups.
The portion of ‘underweight’ people was the highest among women in their 20s (21 percent), while women in their 30s ranked second (13.2 percent).
More than half of the women were in the ‘normal’ group (54.8 percent), while 19.4 percent were ‘at risk of obesity’, and 17.2 percent were in the ‘obese’ group. On the other hand, a higher percentage of men were overweight, with 38.6 percent in the ‘normal’ group, 30.7 percent ‘at risk of obesity’ and 28.5 percent in the ‘obese’ group. This shows that men need to watch their weight more than women do.
The percentage of citizens who tried to lose weight in the past year increased from 46.8 percent in 2008 to 61.9 percent last year.
The data also showed that more than half of Seoul citizens (55.2 percent) walked more than 30 minutes every day.
By M.H.Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
