Obesity is now costing the UK economy nearly £100bn a year through earlier deaths and ill health, additional caring responsibilities, additional costs to the NHS, and economic inactivity at an earlier point in life.
The grim findings from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change have nearly doubled the economic cost of obesity to the UK economy, from an estimate of £58bn in 2020 to £98bn in 2021, or almost 4% of GDP. These costs are only set to rise still further if rates, as expected, continue to increase, it warned.
Of the £98bn total cost to society, about two-thirds (£63bn) falls on individuals with obesity through fewer years of healthy life, and their families and friends through additional informal caring responsibilities, the report, Unhealthy Numbers: The Rising Cost of Obesity in the UK, said.
About one-third of the cost of obesity and overweight (£35bn) falls on the state and wider society through higher NHS treatment costs and lower productivity.
“The UK’s ageing population, plus expected increases in the incidences of obesity, suggest that costs could increase by at least 10 per cent in real terms between now and 2040. Moreover, the UK’s high and rising rates of childhood obesity and overweight are a harbinger of future problems,” it said.
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The UK, the institute added, has one of the highest rates of obesity in Europe, with almost three-quarters of people aged between 45 and 74 in England now being overweight or obese.
Prevalence of obesity has also increased over time. In 1970, one in 10 British adults had obesity, compared with one in three today.
Drilling down into the report, the costs to the NHS (£19bn) and wider society through lost productivity (£16bn) are equivalent to the UK’s total education spend in 2022-2023, and almost three times the previous estimate, the institute said.
Looking forward, the institute’s prediction of a 10% real-terms increase in the cost of obesity between 2021 and 2040 could put the bill to UK plc at £109.4bn, it calculated.
“Clearly the UK’s existing policy approach, focused on individuals taking responsibility for their own health, is not working,” the report warned.
“The rising prevalence of obesity and overweight in the UK is not only harming individual lives but also costing the NHS £19 billion a year – and the economy at least £15 billion in lost output. What’s worse, these costs look set to spiral even higher in the years ahead.
“More than ever, a new approach is needed – and it must be focused on reforming the commercial food environment, embedding healthy food across government entities, and adopting new research, treatments and technologies. The prize is substantial: better health, higher economic growth and less pressure on the NHS. The time to act is now,” it added.
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