Spain in the mirror: three out of four men will have excess weight in 2050

In 2050, 77% of Spanish men over 25 will live with overweight or obesity, a figure that places Spain among the ten wealthy countries with the highest rates, according to a wide-ranging study published in The Lancet.

The report warns of a health crisis that has already moved beyond being an individual problem to become a structural phenomenon. In 2021, more than 2.1 billion adults and nearly 500 million children had excess weight. If the trend continues, more than half the world's population will experience this condition in just one generation.

Excess weight is not only growing: it arrives earlier. Obesity takes hold in childhood and leaves a physical, metabolic and emotional mark that is difficult to erase. Experts speak of a ‘dangerous spiral’ that foreshadows serious diseases at ever earlier ages.

Current solutions are not enough. Diet and exercise, without political support and firm regulation, are diluted in the face of the power of the food industry. The next five years will be decisive. Either governments take the helm, or the cost to public health will be unmanageable. In this projected future, the social mirror returns a worrying image: heavier men, younger people who are ill and a health system on the verge of collapse.