£126 billion annual cost of obesity in the UK
The true cost of the UK’s overweight and obesity crisis has reached an eye-watering £126 billion a year, according to a major new analysis by Frontier Economics for the Nesta think tank.
The figure, significantly higher than previous estimates, has prompted renewed calls for government action, including an expansion of the sugar tax and stricter regulations on food manufacturers.
The study breaks down the annual economic burden into several components:
£71.4 billion linked to reduced quality of life and early deaths
£12.6 billion in direct NHS treatment costs
£12.1 billion from unemployment caused by obesity-related health issues
£10.5 billion for informal care
£9.7 billion due to lower productivity
£8.3 billion from sick days
£1.2 billion in formal care costs
£700 million from lost output due to early death
The research also highlights that 64 per cent of UK adults are living with overweight or obesity, a figure that has doubled since the 1990s and continues to rise.
“This report shows that poor diet now costs the UK a shocking £126 billion a year. That’s not a crisis. That’s a collapse,” said Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of Leon and author of the National Food Strategy. “We’ve created a food system that’s poisoning our population and bankrupting the state.”
Experts say that the economic toll is not just felt in healthcare but in lost productivity and rising levels of economic inactivity. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, 700,000 more people are now out of the workforce due to ill health, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Tim Leunig, Nesta’s chief economist, added: “Obesity causes a host of serious health issues, from type 2 diabetes to cancer. It leaves people less productive, more likely to take sick leave and in many cases unable to work at all.”
The £126 billion figure also surpasses the UK’s annual spending on policing and is equivalent to a 3p cut in income tax, Frontier notes. It represents a significant rise from the consultancy’s earlier estimates of £58 billion in 2022 and £98 billion in 2023, this time including the wider costs associated with living with overweight or obesity.
Campaigners say the findings must be a wake-up call for ministers. Kawther Hashem, head of research at Action on Sugar, said voluntary efforts by the food industry have failed and urged the government to impose mandatory sugar and salt reduction targets, with financial penalties for non-compliance.
Nesta’s report warns that without decisive intervention, the costs of excess weight could spiral to £150 billion a year by 2035, with productivity losses alone forecast to reach £36.3 billion.