Obesity among men in Japan has continued to rise over the past decade, a survey by the health ministry showed Wednesday.
The annual survey was conducted in November and December 2022 after being canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It received valid responses from 2,910 of the 6,134 randomly selected households.
The 2022 survey found that 31.7% of men age 20 and older had a body mass index, or BMI, of 25 or higher, which indicates obesity by Japanese standards.
Although the obesity rate was down 1.3 percentage points from the previous research in 2019, the ministry said it has continued to rise over the past 10 years.
Meanwhile, the rate for women was 21%, little changed from a decade earlier.
The 2022 survey also showed that 14.8% of respondents were smokers, with the rate at 24.8% for men and 6.2% for women. Each of the figures was the lowest on record.
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