Snitz's global fat people roundup!

Decided to fire up Claude and take a deep dive into the subcutaneous fat layer. Buckle up. We're going in!

Quick overview: The US is less "Manatee" than the Pacific Islands. Compared to the EU we are about 40% more obese (varies by nation). Japan is a lean mean fighting machine.

Although the chart below puts the US obesity rate at 36% it's recently trending slightly above 40%. This is driving our sky high rates of chronic disease and health costs.

Here's the scatterplot showing adult obesity rates across ~60 countries, color-coded by region. A few highlights from the data:

• Pacific Islands dominate the top end — American Samoa (80.2%), Tonga (77.1%), and several others have rates far exceeding any other region, driven by genetic factors, dietary Westernization, and limited access to fresh produce.

• Middle East & Americas cluster in the middle tier — Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. (36.2%) all sit in the 30–45% range.

• Europe varies considerably — from Malta and the UK (~27–31%) down to Switzerland, Norway, and Italy in the 14–20% range.

• Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have the lowest rates — Japan (6%), India (3.9%), Ethiopia (5.3%), and Madagascar (4.5%) are among the leanest nations globally.

Data is sourced from WHO and the World Obesity Federation (2024–2025).

The pink Pacific Island cluster dominates the top of the chart in an almost unbroken stretch down to about 50%. The orange Middle East & North Africa and blue Americas bars are heavily interleaved through the middle tier — both regions show significant internal variation. Europe (green) spreads across a wide range, from Malta and Turkey near 30% all the way down to Norway and Switzerland in the mid-teens. Asia (purple) and Sub-Saharan Africa (amber) are almost entirely clustered at the bottom. Hover any bar to see the region label alongside the rate.

Ok, now for the special Snitz sauce. Showing how our obesity rate is related to health cost (& comparing to other nations). I know...you're fricken welcome!