Malaysia’s obesity time bomb: A national crisis in the making

MALAYSIA has long been labelled the “fattest nation” in Asia.

The number of overweight and obese adults rose from 44.5% in 2011 to 54.4% in 2023—an almost 10% jump in a decade. The 2023 National Health Screening Initiative (NHSI) recorded a similar figure, with 53.5% of Malaysians screened overweight or obese. The crisis is not confined to adults: Chua et al. (2024) found that childhood overweight and obesity doubled over 26 years, while Malaysia now has the second-highest child obesity rate in Asean, with 7.1% of children under five overweight.