In Italy, weight tells a rather uncomfortable contradiction. Adults, in comparison with the rest of Europe, are still among those with the lowest levels of obesity. Then we look at children and young people, and the picture changes tone: excess weight in developmental age remains higher than in other European Union countries and risks becoming one of the heaviest health legacies of the coming years.
The data comes from Istat, which reconstructs over a long historical series how we have changed: we live longer, we live more often with chronic diseases, we smoke less than in the past, but we move within lifestyles that continue to leave very concrete signs on the body. Even when those signs still seem manageable.
Saying that we are “among the thinnest in Europe”, therefore, only works up to a certain point. It means that, among adults, Italy maintains a lower obesity rate than many European partners. It also means, however, that the internal curve has moved a lot: according to Istat, the spread of obesity in the adult population has gone from 5.9% in 1990 to 11.6% in 2025. We are better off than others, of course. Meanwhile, the number has almost doubled.
Adults are holding up, at least in European comparison
In the European context, adult Italy maintains a favorable position. In Istat data, obesity levels among adults remain among the lowest in the EU and the 2019 ranking places our country in the lower part of the distribution, far from the highest percentages recorded elsewhere. It is important information, because it still tells us something about our relationship with food, with meals, with some family and daily habits.
It would be convenient to put everything inside the reassuring formula of the Mediterranean diet and leave it at that. Too easy. The numbers also say something else: in the last twenty years Istat has reported a more marked disadvantage for men, for people with lower educational qualifications and for those who live in the South. Obesity in Italy also follows a social map. The territory, income, education, available time, the real possibility of moving, the quality of the spaces in which we live change. And the body often collects everything before the tables.
In the same reconstruction of lifestyles it is clear how some habits have changed and others less. Smoking among men aged 14 and older has fallen from 54.3% in 1980 to 22.9% in 2025; among women the decline is much smaller, from 16.7% to 15.9%. On weight, however, the direction is the opposite: the share of obese adults is growing. One part of the prevention has worked, another continues to struggle, especially when it comes to sedentary days, work in front of the screen, fast food, tiredness and inequalities.
The problem comes first
The most delicate part concerns children and teenagers. Istat reports that, in developmental age, the levels of overweight and obesity are much higher than in other European Union countries. And this is where the Italian paradox becomes less reassuring: adults still make a good impression in international comparison, while the little ones already show a fragility that risks accompanying them over the years.
The extra weight, when it arrives early, hardly remains an isolated episode. It enters habits, school, family life, free time. It has to do with easy snacks, screens that are always on, little spontaneous movement, sports that not all families can afford, cities where going out to play is often more complicated than it should be. Parents are also involved, of course, but within a context that often makes the healthy choice the most tiring one.
The data on children, therefore, does not only speak of childhood. It’s about the adults we might have tomorrow. In the same Istat picture, some chronic diseases are also growing: diabetes goes from 2.9% of the population in 1980 to 6.4% in 2025, while hypertension rises from 6.4% to 18.9%. The aging of the population explains part of this increase, but Istat also highlights the role of unhealthy lifestyles and excess weight among non-elderly people.
The scale is not enough
The South appears several times in Istat data as the most exposed area, together with the lowest education levels. It is a passage that matters, because it shifts the discussion from individual guilt to concrete conditions. Eat better, move more, do prevention, take your children to do sports, cook calmly, choose quality food: all the right things. All things are much simpler when there is money, time, services, green spaces, well-kept school canteens, walkable neighborhoods and a network that does not leave each family alone when faced with the problem.
The weight enigma in Italy lies here. Among adults we still maintain an advantage over Europe, but among children and teenagers the signal is already on. The good standing of adults tells part of the story. The growth of obesity from 1990 to 2025 tells another story. The data on developmental age, however, says where we risk going.
The scale alone measures little. It measures better when we look at the neighborhood, the school, the price of food, the time spent sitting, the narrow sidewalks, the disappeared courtyards, the overpriced gyms. Italian adults remain among the least obese in Europe. The children, however, are already presenting the bill.
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