According to the World Health Organization (2015), the "worldwide population of overweight and obese adults increased between 1980 and 2013 from 30 percent to 38 percent in women, and 29 percent to 37 percent in men". The prevalence of obesity continues to rise in all age groups in Indonesia.
Definition and characteristics of obesity
The generally accepted definition and classification of obesity is attributed by the World Health Organization where it is generally classified by a person's weight measured by the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale. A figure is deduced by dividing an individual's weight in kilograms by their height in meters, squared. An adult individual with a BMI of 25 or higher is considered overweight; 30 or higher is considered obese.
Overview
Obesity is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases. In Indonesia, obesity also contributes to "double burden of disease" because the incidence of infection which causes morbidity and mortality, is also increasing. In an article published by Elsevier, deducing the data from 1993 until 2007 of the Indonesia Family and Life Survey of the Rand Corporation, it illustrates that it was found evident of main trends and determinants of obesity to be correlated with higher standards of living. A published paper by the German Development Economics Conference held in Berlin in 2011, it was stated that Indonesia was facing rapid economic growth and urbanization that included the "transformation of traditional food systems towards modern supply chains".
Prevalence of obesity in the Indonesian population
Prevalence in children and adolescents From 2007 until 2013, several national studies on the Indonesian population named the National Baseline Health Research were conducted by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia. It was found that the prevalence rates of obesity amongst school-aged children have increased from 7.95% to 8.80% during the period. In a published article by Elsevier, the World Health Organization Regional Office for South East Asia Region stated that "undernutrition and overweight coexist within the population". The study shows that "Indonesia currently has the highest prevalence rate of overweight/obesity in under five children". The World Health Organization carried out national studies ranging from 1993 until 2011. The results showed that in 1993, the prevalence of obesity for children aged between 2 and 4.9 was 10.3%. The same study was conducted in 1997, 2000 and 2007 which showed that the prevalence of obesity for children of that said age range has increased to 10.6%, 11.7% and 16.5% respectively. In 2001, the prevalence of obesity for boys and girls aged 8 until 10 years old was 17.8% and 15.3% respectively. Another analysis using data from 1993 by the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) found that "the children (boys aged 6.0 to 8.9 years and girls aged 6.0 to 7.9 years) were divided into three groups: non-poor urban, rural and poor urban group." The results show that the non-poor urban group had a significantly higher prevalence than the rural and poor urban group with 4.9%, 1.0% and 0.7% respectively. In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a regional study on adolescents aged 12 to 15 and found that the prevalence of obesity was 8%. In 2007, the same study was conducted for adolescents aged 16 to 18 and the results were that the prevalence for obesity was 2.7% where the prevalence for boys and girls were 2.2% and 3.2% respectively. In 2010, a larger study was conducted by the World Health Organization on a larger age group for adolescents aged from 10 to 19. The results show that the prevalence of obesity was 9.8% where the prevalence for boys and girls were 8.7% and 10.8%. Based on the statistics, girls had a higher statistic for prevalence of obesity for the adolescents age group for the regional studies. In 2022, Indonesian government is developing strategies to prevent obesity in children to lower the risk of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes.
Prevalence in adults In 2014, there were four studies conducted using data from the IFLS in years 1993, 2000 and 2007. The first study showed that the prevalence of obesity in adults was increasing over the years for both men and women. Women also proved to have higher obesity rates compared to men. The second study was a data analysis using the 1993 data which showed that the prevalence of obesity amongst Indonesian adults was 14.6% . The data from 1993 and 2007 was used for the third study which found that the prevalence of overweight/obese women, aged 19-49, nearly doubled during the 14-year period. The fourth study using the 2007 data found that the prevalence amongst Indonesian adults was higher for women compared to men. In 2005, a regional study conducted by the Global Health Action found that the prevalence of obesity/overweight for adults in Indonesia, aged 25 to 64, was significantly higher for women than men with rates of 23.9% and 9.5% respectively. In 2013, the Basic Healthy Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health showed that the prevalence of obesity in adult women has substantially increased from 14.8% to 32.9%.
Demographics and socioeconomic factors In Indonesia, socioeconomic status and lifestyle are risk factors in being diagnosed with obesity.
Food consumption and nutritional variables In Indonesia, the economy continues to develop its food chain to undergo rapid changes in transforming the traditional food systems to modern supply chains including the production of fast food, processed food and conveniently packaged high-fat content and energy dense food. In 2011, the German Development Economics Conference paper stated that as living standards rise and lifestyle change occur, the demands for food products increases and dietary composition changes. Higher overall consumption of processed food and dairy products led to higher rates of obesity within the population. In a dietary study by Rachmi et al. (2017), the result was that the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents who frequently ate fried and oily food more than 4 times a week is higher than their counterparts at 7.2% and 4.7% respectively. In a study in 2007 and 2009, conducted in DKI Jakarta and Banda Aceh Municipality, it was evident that higher consumption of fried food contributed to the prevalence of obesity.
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