Canada saw ‘steep increase’ in obesity rates during COVID pandemic – CTV
July 14, 2025
TORONTO — A new report says the prevalence of obesity increased faster during the COVID-19 pandemic than it did over the course of more than a decade beforehand, specifically in young adults.
The research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal looked at obesity rates over a 15-year period based on the body mass index of almost 750,000 people who were 18 or older.
Researchers say they saw an increase of about eight per cent over the first 11 years of the study, from 2009 to 2020, compared to an increase of more than one percentage point a year between 2020 and 2023.
That’s about twice the pre-pandemic rate of increase.
Laura Anderson, the study’s author and an associate professor at McMaster University, says these findings suggest public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may have had an impact on obesity rates.
Anderson says there was a “steep increase” in obesity rates among young adults, particularly young females, who showed an increase of 4.7 per cent between 2020 and 2023 in the youngest age group.
