Adult Obesity Rate

The healthiness of Canadians’ diets has decreased steadily in recent years and obesity rates are at historic highs. The adult obesity rate, which measures the prevalence of body mass indices (BMI) that indicate whether an adult is overweight or obese, has risen from 13.1 million adults in 2010 to an estimated 18.3 million adults in 2021 (latest data available). However, the adult obesity rate varies by gender. During the indicated period, the number of adult males with a high BMI has grown at an annualized rate of 1.5%. Comparatively, the number of female adults with a high BMI has grown at an annualized rate of 2.9% during the same period, driven primarily by the rapidly growing obesity rate. Therefore, while the number of adult females with a high BMI has grown at a faster pace than adult males, adult males still make up a larger share of the number of adults who are overweight or obese, or 54.0%. The adult obesity rate is primarily tied to the share of adults who participate in physical activities during their leisure time. For example, the number of adults participating in physical activities rose nearly yearly from 2003 to 2014; however, physical activity levels declined in 2017 and 2018.

The emergence of time-strapped individuals, which limits the extent to which individuals can participate in physical activities, coupled with high-calorie diets and sedentary lifestyles, have contributed to the growth in the adult obesity rate. Still, obesity rates vary considerably between provinces. Individuals in cities are generally less likely to be obese, while people in rural or suburban areas are more likely to be obese. This trend occurs because urban sprawl increases reliance on automobiles and decreases motivation to walk to destinations. Furthermore, it can increase the time it takes to reach recreational facilities. With a boost in health consciousness, there is potential for the obesity rate to eventually fall.

But with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many individuals in compliance with lockdown mandates had to turn to work out in their living spaces, which limits what many can do compared with indoor gyms and outside areas. The popularity of remote work has also resulted in a lot more people working from home without needing to commute, which left more people not needing to make daily walks to work, which helped them avoid contracting the virus but also led to more people gaining more weight because of the limitations of their daily exercises in the period. As such, the adult obesity rate went up by 0.5% in 2020 and 2.5% in 2021, with the effects of the pandemic continuing in the next year. With the scaling back of lockdown measures, these rates have slowed down in 2022. However, the continued effects of the pandemic on mental and physical health have led to these rates staying elevated within the period. The concurrent boost of people with diabetes has also gone up in the period, leading to those with medical conditions struggling with their weight in the time, which has also led to these rates staying up concurrently. With these factors and with the prevalence of unhealthy foods in the market, the adult obesity rate remains elevated in the period, which has increased 0.6% during both 2024 and 2025.