Eurostat says that one in six adults in the EU is obese, which is 15.9% of the population. Obesity is more prevalent among elderly and less educated people.
Malta is most affected by this public health problem as 26% of its population is obese.
Croatia ranks 21st, with 18.7% of its population being obese. Apart from the Maltese, more obese than Croatians are Lithuanians, Hungarians, Estonians, Britons, Czechs and Slovenians.
At the other end of the spectrum are Romanians, with 9.4% of obese people, Italians (10.7%) and the Dutch (13.3%).
With the exception of those aged 75 or over, the older the age group, the higher the share of obese persons, Eurostat says. Only 5.7% of persons aged 18 to 24 are obese, compared with 22.1% of those aged 65 to 74.
There is also a clear connection between the education level and weight. The proportion of obese people among those with a low education level is 19.9%, while among highly-educated people it is 11.5%.