Overweight Britons tip the scales as EU's fattest people

More than half of people in the European Union are overweight or obese and Britons are the fattest, a report said yesterday.

By The Newsroom

Published 8th Dec 2010, 08:50 BST

Updated 8th Dec 2010, 08:51 BST

A quarter of adults in the UK are obese, ahead of Ireland (23 per cent), Malta (22 per cent), Iceland (20 per cent) and Luxembourg (20 per cent).

At the other end of the scale, 10 per cent of Italians are obese, while the figure is 11 per cent in Holland and France. On average, just over 15 per cent of the EU adult population is obese.

The study, from the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, examined the health of people in 31 countries, including the 27 EU member states.

It found that adults in the UK drink 10.8 litres on average of alcohol every year - the same as the EU average.