Table 3. Comparison of overweight defined by body mass index-for-age and obesity defined by body fatness among children in eight African countries, by geographical area, 2013–2017.
| Overweight defined by BMI-for-agea | Obesity defined by body fatness,b no. (%) of children |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Yes | Total | |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | |||
| Ghana | |||
| No | 182 (99.5) | 2 (28.6) | 184 (96.8) |
| Yes | 1 (0.5) | 5 (71.4) | 6 (3.2) |
| Total | 183 (100.0) | 7 (100.0) | 190 (100.0) |
| Kenya | |||
| No | 122 (97.6) | 48 (88.9) | 170 (95.0) |
| Yes | 3 (2.4) | 6 (11.1) | 9 (5.0) |
| Total | 125 (100.0) | 54 (100.0) | 179 (100.0) |
| Namibia | |||
| No | 75 (100.0) | 26 (34.2) | 101 (66.9) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 50 (65.8) | 50 (33.1) |
| Total | 75 (100.0) | 76 (100.0) | 151 (100.0) |
| Senegal | |||
| No | 130 (100.0) | 7 (43.8) | 137 (93.8) |
| Yes | 0 (0.0) | 9 (56.2) | 9 (9.2) |
| Total | 130 (100.0) | 16 (100.0) | 146 (100.0) |
| United Republic of Tanzania | |||
| No | 246 (93.9) | 21 (23.1) | 267 (75.6) |
| Yes | 16 (6.1) | 70 (76.9) | 86 (24.4) |
| Total | 262 (100.0) | 91 (100.0) | 353 (100.0) |
| All | |||
| No | 755 (97.4) | 104 (42.6) | 859 (84.3) |
| Yes | 20 (2.6) | 140 (57.4) | 160 (15.7) |
| Total | 775 (100.0) | 244 (100.0) | 1019 (100.0) |
| North Africa | |||
| Morocco | |||
| No | 137 (97.2) | 21 (45.7) | 158 (84.5) |
| Yes | 4 (2.8) | 25 (54.3) | 29 (15.5) |
| Total | 141 (100.0) | 46 (100.0) | 187 (100.0) |
| Tunisia | |||
| No | 84 (94.4) | 29 (42.6) | 113 (72.0) |
| Yes | 5 (5.6) | 39 (57.4) | 44 (28.0) |
| Total | 89 (100.0) | 68 (100.0) | 157 (100.0) |
| All | |||
| No | 221 (96.1) | 50 (43.9) | 271 (78.8) |
| Yes | 9 (3.9) | 64 (56.1) | 73 (21.2) |
| Total | 230 (100.0) | 114 (100.0) | 344 (100.0) |
| African island | |||
| Mauritius | |||
| No | 64 (91.4) | 26 (31.3) | 90 (58.8) |
| Yes | 6 (8.6) | 57 (68.7) | 63 (41.2) |
| Total | 70 (100.0) | 83 (100.0) | 153 (100.0) |
| All countries | |||
| No | 1040 (96.7) | 180 (40.8) | 1220 (80.5) |
| Yes | 35 (3.3) | 261 (59.2) | 296 (19.5) |
| Total | 1075 (100.0) | 441 (100.0) | 1516 (100.0) |
BMI: body mass index.
a We measured height and weight and calculated overweight from BMI-for-age using the World Health Organization reference z-score > +1.00 standard deviations.5
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