News » October 06

Cost Of Obesity Epidemic Double Australia's Health Budget

An obesity outbreak affecting almost 16 percent of Australians cost the country a confounding 21 billion dollars (15.8 billion US dollars) last year, double what it spend on health, new figures show.

According to analysis by Access Economics Near about 3.24 million Australians are obese, released at a forum at Parliament House in Canberra, attended by more than 130 Australian and international experts on health and food.

Government senator Guy Barnett (who hosted the forum) said that figure should force every Australian to look at their lifestyle.

Barnett told Channel Nine television "What the numbers show is that it should make all of us review our lifestyle choices, and it also shows that these costs are getting bigger, not smaller,"

The report also found that obesity has caused more than 100,000 Australians to suffer type two diabetes. Almost 380,000 suffered cardiovascular disease and 225,000 suffered osteoarthritis also because they were too fat.

The number of people affected is likely to double to 7.2 million -- almost a third of the population -- within 20 years, according to the Diabetes Australia report, which measures the impact of obesity on productivity and quality of life.