Table 3. Prevalence (%) of under- and over-nutrition among adults (> 18 years) and the gender differences in 4 selected African countries¹.

Country	Gender	Underweight (%, BMI < 18.0)	Overweight & obesity (%, BMI ≥ 25.0).	Obesity (% BMI ≥ 30.0)	Overweight & obesity to underweight ratio	Overweight to obesity ratio
Malawi	All	11.3	20.1	4.7	1.78	4.28
	Male	13.2	12.8	1.9	0.97	6.74
	Female	9.4	27.3	7.5	2.90	3.64
	Male/ female ratio	1.4	0.5	0.3
Kenya	All	11.9	22.6	6.0	1.90	3.77
	Male	13.9	14.5	2.5	1.04	5.80
	Female	9.9	30.5	9.4	3.08	3.24
	Male/ female ratio	1.4	0.5	0.3
Ghana	All	8.9	29.3	9.7	3.29	3.02
	Male	10.4	20.3	4.1	1.95	4.95
	Female	7.4	37.9	15.0	5.12	2.53
	Male/ female ratio	1.4	0.5	0.3
South Africa	All	4.8	51.9	27.0	10.80	1.92
	Male	6.6	38.6	14.5	5.85	2.66
	Female	3.2	64.0	38.5	20.00	1.66
	Male/ female ratio	2.1	0.6	0.4

¹Based on best available national recent data during 2014–2016.

Data source: prevalence values for underweight, overweight and obesity were derived from WHO 2016 [20].

Male/female ratios were calculated by dividing the male values by the female values.