Healthcare policies in Türkiye have for decades been focused on increasing general health insurance coverage and building healthcare infrastructure. In the last 20 years, such policies have managed to fulfil the health requirements of a young generation. Due to such developments, Türkiye's healthcare sector today is more developed than many European countries, and the country has shown remarkable progress in health metrics. However, today a silent and insidious crisis threatens these achievements. It is neither an infectious disease nor a sudden economic shock; it is the uncontrolled rise of clinical obesity.
According to a recent white paper published by IQVIA, a company specialized in health research, titled “The Obesity Landscape in Türkiye,” the country has crossed a dangerous threshold. The prevalence of obesity in the adult population is approximately 32.1%, making Türkiye by far the most obese country in Europe. In 2005, this rate was around 16.6-19%. In other words, obesity has almost doubled in two decades. This is a world record! Today, approximately 20 million citizens live with clinical obesity. If no action is taken, it will not be surprising if we reach the rates of the U.S. (40%), the world leader in this area, within 10 years.
