Nearly half of them are obese South Korea had a record high rate of male obesity last year

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 16 -- Affected by the new crown epidemic, many South Koreans are getting fatter due to lack of exercise and other reasons. Data released by the Korean Centers for Disease Control shows that south Korea's obesity rates for both men and women reached new highs last year. Among them, men are particularly serious, and nearly half are obese.

The CDC reached the above conclusions after conducting an annual survey of about 250 health indicators in Korea, including health status, living habits, and nutritious diets, for about 10,000 people over the age of 10. The Korean Herald reported on the 15th that the male obesity rate in South Korea in 2020 was 48%, an increase of 6.2 percentage points over the previous year; the female obesity rate rose from 25% in 2019 to 27.7%. Both indicators set new records since the survey began in 1998, and both saw their highest increases since 2001.

Pedestrians wearing masks walk down a street near Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul, South Korea, on July 9. (Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Wang Jingyan)

The data shows that obesity rates in men aged thirty to thirty-nine and men in their forties to forties and forties and nineties rank in the top two, at 58.2 percent and 50.7 percent, respectively. Among them, the obesity rate of men aged 30 to 39 increased by nearly 12 percentage points over the previous year.

Zheng Yinjing, director of the Department of Disease Management, said that since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the public health status has changed, people's sports have decreased, and the prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes has risen.

The data shows that 45.6% of the respondents did moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for more than 150 minutes a week or at least 75 minutes of high-intensity aerobic exercise, the lowest since 2014; 39.2% of the respondents walked at least 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week, and walked for at least 10 minutes each time, down 4.3 percentage points from the previous year.

According to the Korea Herald, many Koreans have had to work from home during the pandemic and are unable to use their commute time to exercise. At the same time, many gyms are closed to comply with epidemic prevention regulations, which also affects people's fitness. (Wang Yijun)