The cost of the UK’s ballooning obesity crisis has risen to a staggering £107bn each year, new figures show, with record levels of NHS spending pushing overstretched services to the brink.
More than one in four adults are now obese – a level that has more than doubled since the 1990s – with UK rates now surpassing those of our European neighbours, as fast-food outlets line our high streets and most Britons say healthy food is too expensive.
And the picture is only set to get worse, as experts from The Lancet warn that 43 million adults will be overweight or obese by 2050, and obesity in young children is set to rise by 50 per cent unless urgent action is taken.
The obesity epidemic is already harming the economy, with 266,000 jobs lost through unemployment, sick days and early death, amounting to £24bn in lost economic productivity each year, according to financial analysts Frontier Economics for the social think tank Nesta.
Experts say weight-loss jabs could hold the key to turning things round, with 1.5 million people now thought to be using them, and the NHS’s top doctor, Stephen Powis, predicting that they could soon be one of the most commonly used drugs.
Calculations from Nesta show that the UK could save around £53bn a year, The Independent can reveal, by extending the provision of weight-loss jabs to an extra 150,000 people while also funding policy changes such as rules on the way retailers sell food.
“We can’t afford to kick the can down the road on tackling obesity any longer,” Hugo Harper, director of healthy life at Nesta, told The Independent.
“Obesity is at the root of many of the UK’s health problems, including increasing the risk of cancer and diabetes, while costing our economy billions in lost productivity and NHS spending. This is only going to get worse without intervention, as obesity rates are set to rise.”
Currently, 26.5 per cent of adults in the UK are obese, according to estimates from the Department of Health and Social Care – up from 12.3 per cent in the 1990s – while a shocking 64.5 per cent of adults are overweight.
In Europe, only Turkey has higher rates than Britain, while the UK still lags behind the US, where 40 per cent of adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A poor or excessive diet is a leading cause of obesity, alongside a lack of activity, genetics, certain medications, and health conditions such as hypothyroidism, which can slow down a person’s metabolism.
Junk food has become more readily available, with 70 per cent of local authorities in England having more than 100 outlets per 100,000 people. This figure is as high as 414 per 100,000 in parts of London.
The number of fast-food outlets per 100,000 population in the most deprived areas of England is also twice as high as in the least deprived areas, at 147 per 100,000 compared with 73 per 100,000.
And a recent survey from polling company YouGov shows that most Britons find it cheaper to buy unhealthy groceries, which are often sold at discounted prices.
Cost to the economy
In addition to affecting people’s quality of life, the UK’s obesity crisis has a real economic cost – from the burden on the NHS, the care sector and the benefits system to the impact on productivity in the workforce.
Frontier Economics estimates that the combined costs of obesity and people being overweight amount to £126bn a year. This could rise to as much as £150bn in the next decade if action is not taken, Nesta warns, as obesity levels are set to rise.
Some 266,000 jobs are lost as a result of people not being able to work because of illness related to their weight, the report shows – a major challenge in light of Sir Keir Starmer’s commitment to “get Britain working”.
Figures show that £31bn in productivity is lost each year as a result of unemployment, sick days, or early death, with the average obese person losing an average of 7 to 8 days in productivity, costing around £9.7bn a year.
Cost to the NHS
Obesity increases the risk of other health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke. It is now the second-highest preventable cause of cancer, behind smoking.
In 2023, the government estimated it cost the NHS around £6.5bn a year. This estimate has now almost doubled to £11.4bn in 2025.
Frontier Economics’ own analysis shows that NHS costs could be as high as £12.6bn a year, when also counting the impact of people being overweight.
More than 1.2 million people were admitted to hospital in 2023 for obesity-related illnesses, with 8,716 admissions directly attributed to patients being overweight. These accounted for 13 per cent of the 16.4 million hospital admissions that year.
Tackling obesity was identified as a key policy area in the NHS 10-year-plan as the health service looks to cut costs to fill a £6.6bn deficit.
The NHS plans to roll out weight-loss jabs to 220,000 patients in the next three years, out of the 3.4 million patients who could be eligible to take them.
Nesta says extending their use to a further 150,000 people will cost £500m each year – while saving £1.4bn in the same period, The Independent can reveal, by relieving other services and boosting the economy.
However, experts have cautioned that it is unclear how long patients should take these drugs for, and trials so far show that almost all patients put weight back on when they stop.
But Nesta said that up to £53bn could be saved if, alongside the jabs, the government also funded policy changes, such as introducing rules for food retailers. These could include banning price promotions on foods high in salt, fat and sugar, restricting the sale of those foods at checkouts, and clamping down on advertising.
Tackling health inequalities
It is well documented that economic and social inequality drive poor health, and this is reflected in higher obesity rates.
Obesity is highest among the Black British population, at 33 per cent compared with the average of 26.5 per cent. This rises to 73 per cent if the figures include those who are overweight, compared with 65 per cent across the wider population.
People living with disabilities, 40 per cent of whom are obese, and those with no qualifications (36 per cent), have higher obesity rates, but have fewer resources available to them to tackle their weight and health problems.
Rates of childhood obesity in England are also higher than in comparable countries such as France, Germany, and Italy.
Those living in deprived areas of the UK are twice as likely to be obese – at 28 per cent compared with 14 per cent in more affluent areas – with higher childhood obesity rates in the north of England.
Alfred Slade, of the Obesity Health Alliance, a group of 65 health organisations formed to address the issue, told The Independent: “We know that childhood obesity rates are twice as high in the poorest areas compared to the richest, and therefore the ability to afford healthy food is indisputably a huge part of this.
“The poorest families in the country don’t love their children less and don’t want to feed their kids the worst food. There are massive barriers [to eating healthily].”
Obesity is also increasing at a faster rate in adults in poorer areas, up by 20 per cent since 2015, compared with 15 per cent among the least deprived.
As access to diet programmes, gyms, and weight-loss medication can be expensive or otherwise difficult to come by, some doctors believe the NHS must provide weight-loss jabs more widely.
Professor Graham Easton, a GP who has used weight-loss jabs himself, said: “There’s a massive socioeconomic inequality, and there is a worry about this driving that inequality even further.
“Unless the NHS makes sure that these are available across the board equally, I think that’s a major risk [in terms of the obesity gap between socioeconomic groups widening].”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said obesity is now one of the leading causes of ill health, and that weight-loss jabs could be one way to tackle the “obesity epidemic”.
“This government is determined to bring revolutionary modern treatments to everyone who needs them, not just those who can afford to pay. This rollout is an important step in making these medicines more widely available and shifting the focus of healthcare from sickness to prevention, which our 10-year health plan will deliver.”
