Beijing — Chinese people are growing taller as the country becomes richer but they are getting fatter even faster, the government and state media said.

The proportion of Chinese over-18s who were overweight stood at 30.1 percent in 2012, up 7.3 percentage points over a decade, Wang Guoqiang, a vice director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, told a press conference.

The obesity rate had risen by 4.8 percentage points to 11.9 percent, he said on Tuesday — a two-thirds increase.“The problem of overweight and obesity is rising sharply as the dietary make-up has changed,” Wang said.

The average Chinese man weighed 66.2 kg in 2012, he said, citing a government report on national nutrition and chronic diseases, with women weighing in at 57.30 kg.

Males have put on an average 3.5 kg over 10 years, the China Daily said yesterday citing previous figures, while women were 2.9 kg heavier.

“Smoking, excessive drinking of alcohol, insufficient physical exercises and unhealthy diet such as high salt and fat consumption are the main behaviour risk factors that trigger and worsen chronic diseases,” Wang said at the briefing.

“Pressures brought by the rapid development and transformation of the economy and society on people’s life and work have also caused impact on health,” he added.

The average Chinese man was 167.1 cm tall, the figures showed, and women’s average height was 155.8 cm.

They were up just 0.4 cm and 0.7 cm repectively from 10 years earlier, the China Daily report said. — AFP

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