Obesity has become more common than being underweight among children and teenagers aged five to 19, according to UNICEF. Now, about 9.4% of children and teenagers in this group live with obesity, while 9.2% are underweight. This is a big change because in 2000, only 3% were obese and nearly 13% were underweight. Today, about 188 million school-aged children and teenagers in the world have obesity.

This change happened because many families now have easy access to cheap, processed food, which often does not have many healthy nutrients. At the same time, fresh and healthy food can be expensive or hard to find. Children also see a lot of advertising for sugary drinks, salty snacks, and fast food, which makes it harder to make healthy choices.

As a result, the company Novo Nordisk and the organisation UNICEF are expanding a programme to help prevent overweight and obesity in children. The programme will offer nutrition advice, ideas for more physical activity, and some mental-health support in several countries. Novo Nordisk has promised $18 million for this project, which aims to help more than 80 million children between 2027 and 2030.