Obesity rising faster in rural areas than cities

Obesity is increasing more rapidly in the world’s rural areas than in cities, according to a new study of global trends in body-mass index (BMI). This is due to lower income and education, limited availability and higher price of healthy foods, and less leisure and sports facilities. The research, led by Imperial College London and published in Nature, analysed the height and weight data of more than 112 million adults across urban and rural areas of 200 countries and territories between 1985 and 2017. Height and weight can be used to calculate BMI, an internationally recognised scale which tells us whether an individual