Solomons people rated as slimmer compared to their Pacific neighbours

Solomon Islands is the slimmest country in the Pacific with an average 44.0% overweight ratio beside Papua New Guinea (30.2%), despite Pacific Islanders being rated among the most overweight people in the world.

According to a report from the World Health Organisation published in the Forbes magazine, out of the 10 fattest countries in the world, eight were from the Pacific region.

Figures obtained from the latest WHO report on Forbes.com showed the following rankings with Nauru topping the list as the most fattest country in the world, followed by the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Cook Islands and Tonga. The report defined 90% of their populations as being overweight or obese. The detailed ranking of all Pacific countries are as follows:

1. Nauru 94.5%
2. FSM 91.1%
3. Cook Islands 90.9%
4. Tonga 90.8%
5. Niue 81.7%
6. Samoa 80.4%
7. Palau 78.4%
10. Kiribati 73.6%
17. New Zealand 68.4%
21. Australia 67.4%
47. Vanuatu 59.6%
55. Tuvalu 56.6%
68. Fiji 54.8%
105. Marshall Islands 46.2%
115. Solomon Islands 44.0%
145. Papua New Guinea 30.2%

Solomon Islands sits at the bottom category of the fattest countries in the world with a ranking of 115 followed by Papua New Guinea on 145th position, making these two countries as the most slimmest nations in the Pacific.

The WHO report attributed the overweight status of people from high ranked countries to an increase in Western imports and substantial changes to diets.

It also linked the trend observed with the top eight fattest countries in the Pacific to their economic ties with the United States of America and New Zealand.

The report said a reliance on fatty foods that lacked nutrients and a decrease in physical labour were also among the reasons for high obesity rates.

By WHO definition, those classified as obese are people over 15 years with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 30.