Over half the adult population of the Netherlands is now officially too heavy and 16% are clinically obese, national statistics office CBS said on Monday.

The percentage of adults classified as obese – with a body mass index of more than 30 – is now three times as high as in the 1980s, the CBS said. The number of people classified as morbidly obese has gone up from 1% to 4% of the population. 

Obesity rates have risen again, despite government campaigns to reduce the problem and to encourage people to eat better food. In 2018 the government launched a national plan to improve the nation’s health known as the National Prevention Accord which aimed to cut the number of people who are overweight to 38% of the total population. 

In European terms, however, the Netherlands is performing better than average, with only fewer people in Bulgaria, Romania and Italy considered to be obese, according to CBS figures from 2019.

 Last week, the World Health Organisation published global figures which indicate obesity among adults has more than doubled since 1990, and has quadrupled among children and teenagers.