A time bomb for public health
The numbers are cold, but they speak clearly: Mexico is in the world’s top ten in a ranking that no one wants to lead. The latest World Atlas of Obesity places us in eighth place among the countries with the most children and young people with high weight. Behind giants like China, India or the United States, but far ahead of our reality.
It is estimated that there are a total of 3 million 966 thousand children between 5 and 9 years old reported to be overweight or obese in 2025, in addition there are a total of 9 million 161 thousand children between 10 and 19 years old.
That number—more than 13 million—is not just a statistical fact. They are full classrooms, silent parks, committed futures. Each of those numbers has a first and last name, and carries risks that no child should face.
The consequences go beyond the scale
The report does not mince words: hypertension, high triglycerides, liver problems… conditions that we previously saw in adults, now appear in pediatric records. But the damage is not just physical.
The WHO also warns that obesity in childhood and adolescence has adverse psychosocial consequences since it affects school performance and quality of life.
Stigmatization, discrimination, intimidation. The social weight hurts as much as overloaded knees. And here comes the worst: these children have a very high probability of carrying these problems into adulthood, multiplying the risks.
The trend is alarming. If in 1975 only 4% of school-age children had serious problems related to their body weight, by 2022 that figure had shot up to almost 20%. And projections for 2040 paint an even darker picture.
This is not a future crisis—it is already here. In offices, in schools, in families. And while we discuss conspiracy theories or get distracted by political scandals, an entire generation is paying the price for unbalanced menus, unsafe spaces to play, and late-arriving public policies.
My teacher wife sees it every day: children who get tired climbing stairs, who avoid sports out of shame. My teenage daughters tell me about peers who endure cruel teasing. This is not abstract. It’s real like the sweet bread at recess.
The global atlas is hitting us on the table with hard data. The question now is whether we will act as a society or whether we will continue to see these numbers—and these lives—continue to grow in the wrong direction.
