Overweight and obesity is one of the key risk factors for many noncommunicable diseases (NCD) such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, and stroke, certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, gallbladder disease, dyslipidemia, osteoarthritis and gout, and pulmonary diseases. Body mass index (BMI) is a surrogate marker of adiposity calculated by dividing the weight of a person in kilograms by the square of the height in meters (kg/m²). In the case of adults, a person with a BMI equal to or greater than 30 is considered obese and a BMI equal to or greater than 25 is considered overweight. The BMI categories for defining obesity vary by age and gender in infants, children and adolescents.

This interactive data visualization shows the level, disparities across countries, and trends over time of the prevalence of overweight, obesity, severe obesity, and morbid obesity in the people aged 18 years and older by sex in countries of the Region of the Americas from 1975 to 2016.