Social disparities in obesity

Women are more often obese than men, but
male obesity rates have been growing faster
than female rates in most OECD countries.
Obesity is more common among the poor and
the less educated. In several OECD countries,
women with little education are two to three
times more likely to be overweight than more
educated women, but smaller or no disparities
exist for men. These disparities remained
remarkably stable over the past decade. Even
the latest data show no meaningful change in
inequality indexes like the one reported in
Figure 4 in the past three years, reflecting the
failure of government policies aimed at
protecting vulnerable groups.
Social disparities are also present in children
(both boys and girls) in England, France and the
United States, but not in Korea.
Poor health goes hand in hand with poor job
prospects for many obese people

Source: International Association for the Study of Obesity (2011).