Health experts in Turkey have highlighted the increasing number of Turks being categorised as “obese”, which is linked to a sedentary lifestyle, resulting in more patients diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases and other chronic illnesses that could be prevented by simply being more active and consuming less processed food.
Istanbul as hotspot for unhealthy living
Professor Umit Kervan, head of the Turkish Health Institutes, has spoken on behalf of his colleagues, saying that the current trend of rising numbers of obese Turks is a threat to public health and has slowly turned Turkish society into “an increasingly obese society.”
He said that it is ironic that most Turks, especially in Istanbul, are living in a fast-paced environment; however, people have become inactive over the years. Such observations started off during the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, where millions of people were quarantined in their homes and offices shifted into a work-from-home setup.
“Obesity rates across the country have reached 18 percent. Among women, it rose from 20 percent last year, to over 22 percent (in 2025),” Kervan revealed, adding that the morbid obesity rate in Istanbul alone has spiked to 16 percent from its 8 percent in the past years.
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More patients mean more medicines
Moreover, Kervan said that the case of rising obesity in the country has also shed light on the rising cost and purchase of medicines to treat cardiovascular diseases, with the government spending a whopping USD719.6 million to treat patients with cardiovascular diseases.
“We use 260 million boxes of heart-related medicines annually, including about 32 million boxes of cholesterol-lowering drugs. The cost of cholesterol medication alone is around USD107.9 million to USD131.9 million,” the expert emphasised.
WHO urges fighting obesity at an early age
In 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) released data addressing the growing trend of humans, especially the youth, resorting to less physical activity, which consequently leads to at least one in eight people in the world being considered obese.
The WHO cited a published report by The Lancet indicating that as many as one billion humans are obese and diagnosed with related comorbidities in 2022. Such figures also include obesity among patients aged five to 19 years old, warning that the harrowing reality could spell a long-term health problem for the youth unless solutions, both from local communities and governments, are introduced.
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