Obesity Under International and National Spotlights

Guilia Bosi

In 2025, for the first time, global rates of obesity among school-age children and adolescents exceeded those of underweight children, establishing it as the predominant form of malnutrition, as noted in the UNICEF Child Nutrition Report 2025. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally, one in eight individuals lives with obesity. Unsurprisingly, pharmaceutical companies are investing in obesity therapies. Morgan Stanley estimates the annual global market for weight-reduction medicines could hit $150 billion by 2035. The World Obesity Federation’s 2023 Atlas estimates that without better prevention and treatment, the global cost of overweight and obesity could reach $4.32 trillion annually by 2035.

Recent legal and policy developments

Internationally and nationally, laws and policies are increasingly addressing obesity as a public health problem. Public health policies have tended to focus on communicable diseases more than on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and obesity. However, since the 2000s, and especially in the past decade, states and international policy fora have started to recognise that NCDs and their underlying determinants need appropriate regulation. In this context, obesity received significant attention in 2025, as various international and national policy and legal developments took place.

In September 2025, obesity emerged as one of the key themes of the Fourth High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on NCDs. On 16 December 2025, states adopted a political declaration on the prevention and control of NCDs and the promotion of mental health that encourages the development of legislation and policies to ‘promote healthy diets and reduce unhealthy diets, overweight and obesity’. The annual award of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on NCDs in 2025 was dedicated to efforts aimed at preventing and controlling obesity. September also saw the new class of anti-obesity drugs (GLP-1 therapies) added to the WHO Essential Medicines List for type 2 diabetes in high-risk groups and in December, the WHO published its first guidelines regarding the utilisation of GLP-1 therapies, endorsing their use to reduce obesity rates. 

Noteworthy legislative and jurisprudential developments also took place at the national level. In October 2025, Italy became the first country to legally recognise obesity as a chronic, progressive, and relapsing disease. Under this law, individuals with obesity can access essential levels of care provided by the National Health Service. In July 2025, Vietnam adopted its first tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. In the UK, the government is planning to ban energy drinks like Monster and Red Bull for individuals under 16, given their impact on concentration and sleep, as well as their contribution to obesity. In December, San Francisco initiated the first government lawsuit in the United States targeting 10 food manufacturers, including Nestlé USA, Kellogg, and Coca-Cola, over ultra processed foods (UPFs) which are linked to obesity. The lawsuit seeks, inter alia, an injunction to stop the defendants from using misleading advertisements and financial compensation to assist local authorities in addressing the health expenses attributable to UPFs.

A few reflections

States and international organisations are becoming increasingly aware of this public health issue and are acting accordingly. Laws as outlined above demonstrate a major shift in how obesity is perceived, from being considered a matter of individual poor choices to a complex disease requiring comprehensive clinical and social interventions. The Vietnam, United Kingdom, and United States examples show that governments are more cognizant of the role played by the food and beverage industries and the need to regulate them.

These normative developments shed light on a condition that, until recently, had not received due consideration. Nonetheless, much work still needs to be done. For instance, 2025 also witnessed an important setback in this field: the European Commission appears to have abandoned the Nutri-Score, an easy-to-read nutrition label intended for the front of food packaging, which was expected to become mandatory for European Union Member States.

In addition, when developing new policies and laws on obesity, states must respect health rights, not only because the right to health is an international legal obligation but also because it provides valuable guidance on how to frame new legislation and policies. For example, under this framework, states should regulate the activities of food and beverage companies by requiring them to provide accurate information on their products, disincentivise unhealthy foods, and help people make well-informed decisions about their health. To sum up, the right to health is a powerful and useful form of guidance when developing laws and policies concerning obesity.

Giulia Bosi, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher in International Law at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy.