British girls are the fattest in Europe

British girls are the fattest in Europe – almost a third are overweight or obese, says a study.

Girls under 20 top a league table of 22 nations in Western Europe, with 29.2 per cent being overweight and obese. 

Of those, 8 per cent of the girls meet the clinical definition of obesity, having a Body Mass Index of 30 or above.

Older British women are also battling the pounds with 57 per cent classified as fat – third highest after Iceland and Malta.

Estimates from a global study for 2013 found 66.6 per cent of men in the UK are fat. 

This places them fifth in the European league table.

An estimated 26 per cent of British boys under 20 are overweight and obese – placing them 10th. 

The report from the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, published in The Lancet, says there has been an increase in obese  children in developed countries.

But the rise in adult obesity has slowed down.

‘In developed countries, peak prevalence of obesity is moving to younger ages,’ says the report.

‘Evidence of a slowdown in the rate of increase of overweight and obesity in the developed world provides some hope that the epidemic might have peaked in developed countries.’

But obesity remains a ‘major global health challenge,’ the report adds, with no national success  stories reported over the past  three decades.

The UK and Australia have seen large rises in obesity during this period. However, the US tops the global league table, containing 13 per cent of the world’s obese people.

Dailym