11 Countries with the Highest Rates of Eating Disorders in the World

We are taking a look at the countries with the highest rates of eating disorders today.  Eating disorders are essentially psychological illnesses attributable to abnormal eating habits. What can be termed as ‘abnormal’ eating varies though, and both excessive and inadequate eating can be detrimental to health. Physical, as well as mental health issues, may arise out of eating disorders and hence, for those who struggle with it, it can be a rather agonizing experience. The most common types of such disorders are Bulimia nervosa and Anorexia nervosa. However, other kinds, such as Binge Eating Disorders or Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders (OSFED) are also quite prevalent these days.

While Bulimia entails binge eating followed by self-induced ‘purging’ or cleansing in the form of vomiting, use of laxatives or over-exercising, Anorexia refers to an extreme aversion to food to the point of starvation. Needless, to say both are the cause of serious health implications. Anorexia also happens to have the highest fatality rate among all other mental illnesses, with around 4% of individuals suffering from the diseases passing away due to complications arising out of it.

Essentially anorexia is known to be affecting females, however, a notable percentage of sufferers are also males and contrary to popular belief it is not a problem that only the westernized world faces either. Peer pressure and body image standards promoted by the media today are greatly instrumental in causing abnormal eating habits world over today. About 50% of teenage girls and almost 30% of teenage boys have been found to using restrictive methods of dieting in order to lose weight. While almost 30% of the dieters graduate to pathologically dieting, 20-25% of them end up having eating disorders.

In case of Bulimia, the mortality rates are known to be as high as 3.9% while for binge eating disorder, it is at 5%.  Indicatively, the 10 Fattest Countries in the World may also be at a high risk of having a lot of binge eating disorder cases.

Since most of the people suffering from eating disorders do not attempt to get treatment, we should familiarize ourselves with its prevalence and ill effects, as only awareness can reduce the fatalities occurring due to aversion from getting professional help. So let’s proceed and look at the countries with the most reported eating disorder cases.

11. Germany

Around 1,500,000 German citizens reportedly suffer from some kind of eating disorder. And, as the rates keep rising in the country, many a campaign against media’s unrealistic beauty standards have been undertaken by various societies.

10. Vietnam

The Southeast Asian country has a significant number of eating disorder cases. Most of the cases result from being unsatisfied with one’s body and the fear of getting fat, while there are cases resulting from other health issues.

9. Japan

Japan has faced a rapid increase in eating disorder cases over the last decade. Companies selling slimming-aides have experienced booming while the number of underweight babies is increasing due to mothers controlling their weights during pregnancies.

8. Bangladesh

Almost 2,500,000 people are victims of eating disorders in the country. Household stress is reckoned to be a major inducer of eating disorder among the women while awareness about the ailment is limited and generally ignored.

7. Russia

Russian women are known to be one of the most beautiful in the world. But, the high beauty standards have taken a toll on many women as the pressure has been a huge cause of inducing abnormal eating tendencies.

6. Pakistan

A lot of unhealthy eating attitudes have been reported in Pakistan as well. Depression has been discovered to be the primary cause of it, as well as dissatisfaction with body weights and shapes.

5. Brazil

With almost 37% of the adolescents being affected by binge eating tendencies while 24% being serial dieters, Brazil has quite high ranking on the list of countries with the highest rates of eating disorders in the world. And, as the rates of students going on diets are high, nutritional risk are manifold.

4. Indonesia

As Indonesia’s obsession with the model-figure seems to be on a rise with the people vehemently looking up to the media, the increase in dysfunctional eating ways has also seen a rapid increase. The low awareness in this area has ensured that the countering measures have been limited too.

3. USA

USA has been accused time and again for promoting a westernized media setting up unrealistic beauty standards. Over 10 million females have been victims of some kind of eating disorders in the country while four out of ten people have had an experience with it or have known somebody affected by it. Apparently, only one-third of the ones diagnosed with it tend to opt for treatment in the country.

2. India

India’s eating disorder cases have increased at an alarming rate and have grown by 5-10 times in the past 10 years. Not surprisingly, the Bollywood fever has been a big contributor. Almost 26% of the girls are susceptible to acquiring eating disorders.

1. China

The Chinese culture and strict parental control has been one of the major causes of spiking rebellious attitudes among children and eventually leading to eating disorders. The problem has been recent to the country but has been rampant in the last few years. The effect of westernization and social changes have greatly contributed in China becoming one of the countries with the highest rates of eating disorders in the world.