Table 2. Comparison of obesity defined by body mass index-for-age and by body fatness among children in eight African countries, by geographical area, 2013–2017.
| Obesity defined by BMI-for-agea | Obesity defined by body fatness,b no. (%) of children |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Yes | Total | |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | |||
| Ghana | |||
| No | 183 (100.0) | 5 (71.4) | 188 (99.0) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 2 (28.6) | 2 (1.0) |
| Total | 183 (100.0) | 7 (100.0) | 190 (100.0) |
| Kenya | |||
| No | 125 (100.0) | 50 (92.6) | 175 (97.8) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 4 (7.4) | 4 (2.2) |
| Total | 125 (100.0) | 54 (100.0) | 179 (100.0) |
| Namibia | |||
| No | 75 (100.0) | 49 (64.5) | 124 (82.1) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 27 (35.5) | 27 (17.9) |
| Total | 75 (100.0) | 76 (100.0) | 151 (100.0) |
| Senegal | |||
| No | 130 (100.0) | 12 (75.0) | 142 (97.3) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 4 (25.0) | 4 (2.7) |
| Total | 130 (100.0) | 16 (100.0) | 146 (100.0) |
| United Republic of Tanzania | |||
| No | 259 (98.9) | 48 (52.7) | 307 (87.0) |
| Yes | 3 (1.1) | 43 (47.3) | 46 (13.0) |
| Total | 262 (100.0) | 91 (100.0) | 353 (100.0) |
| All | |||
| No | 772 (99.6) | 164 (67.2) | 936 (91.9) |
| Yes | 3 (0.4) | 80 (32.8) | 83 (8.1) |
| Total | 775 (100.0) | 244 (100.0) | 1019 (100.0) |
| North Africa | |||
| Morocco | |||
| No | 141 (100.0) | 37 (80.4) | 178 (95.2) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 9 (19.6) | 9 (4.8) |
| Total | 141 (100.0) | 46 (100.0) | 187 (100.0) |
| Tunisia | |||
| No | 89 (100.0) | 60 (88.2) | 149 (94.9) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 8 (11.8) | 8 (5.1) |
| Total | 89 (100.0) | 68 (100.0) | 157 (100.0) |
| All | |||
| No | 230 (100.0) | 97 (85.1) | 327 (95.1) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 17 (14.9) | 17 (4.9) |
| Total | 230 (100.0) | 114 (100.0) | 344 (100.0) |
| African island | |||
| Mauritius | |||
| No | 70 (100.0) | 49 (59.0) | 119 (77.8) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 34 (41.0) | 34 (22.2) |
| Total | 70 (100.0) | 83 (100.0) | 153 (100.0) |
| All countries | |||
| No | 1072 (99.7) | 310 (70.3) | 1382 (91.2) |
| Yes | 3 (0.3) | 131 (29.7) | 134 (8.8) |
| Total | 1075 (100.0) | 441 (100.0) | 1516 (100.0) |
BMI: body mass index.
a We measured height and weight and calculated obesity from BMI-for-age using the World Health Organization reference z-score > +2.00 standard deviations.
b We measured body fatness using the deuterium dilution method and defined excessive body fat percentage as > 25% in boys and > 30% in girls.11,12