Men set to overtake women in obesity stakes, official figures show

The proportion of adults in England who are an unhealthy size has soared over the past 15 years with one in four now seriously overweight.

There have always been more obese women than men but the gap between the genders has now been cancelled out.

In addition, the number of overweight women has fallen in recent years while the number of morbidly obese men is rising sharply.

This comes as a new report by the Office for National Statistics uncovers wide discrepancies in men and women's health and working lives.

Health experts believe the narrowing obesity gap shows how schemes to tackle the country's weight problem are having less effect on men, with women more likely to go on diets or join a gym.

They warn that the country's obesity epidemic, caused by an increase in consumption of junk food and a decline in exercise levels, will lead to increased levels of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said: "Men are notoriously bad at looking after their health and women are much more motivated.”

The statistics show that the proportion of obese men rose from 13 per cent in 1993 to 24 per cent in 2006. The number of morbidly obese men has risen from 0.2 per cent of the male population to 1.5 per cent over the same period, while 43 per cent are now overweight.

By contrast, the proportion of obese women over 16 rose from 16 per cent in 2003 to 24 per cent in 2004 and fell by a fraction the following year. The number of overweight women has fallen from 34 per cent to 32 per cent since 2004.

The ONS's annual Focus on Gender report also showed the death rate from alcohol has doubled for men to 18.3 per 100,000 over the past 15 years, and risen from 5 to 8.8 for women.

Women can expect to live to 70.3 (and men to 67.9) but will spend their last six years in poor health, it is claimed.

The report also shows that the proportion of unmarried men and women living together has doubled between 1986 and 2006, with 13 per cent of those aged 16 to 59 now cohabiting.

Seven million people also live alone, two-thirds of them women.

Girls continue to outperform boys at all ages, from national tests for seven-year-olds to degree level, but men continue to earn more than women. The gender pay gap, now at its narrowest value since records began, now stands at 12.6 per cent.

The number of men and women in employment is now almost equal, with more than two-thirds of mothers now in work. However half of women are in part-time jobs compared with just one in six men.

英国的成人肥胖率在过去15年中大幅增长，目前有四分之一的成年人体重严重超标。

过去英国的女性肥胖者一直多于男性，不过现在这种性别差异已逐渐消失了。

而且近年来女性肥胖人数有所下降，而男性的过度肥胖人数却急剧增长。

这些统计来自英国国家统计署发布的一项最新报告。该报告表明，英国的男性和女性在健康和工作方面存在很大差异。

健康专家认为，男女肥胖率差距的缩小表明，英国解决肥胖问题的措施对于男性没起到太大作用，而女性则更经常地通过节食或加入健身俱乐部的方法来减肥。

健康专家发出警告，由过量食用垃圾食品和运动量减少而引起的肥胖流行病会增加人们患心脏病、糖尿病和癌症的风险。

英国肥胖研究会的泰姆•弗莱说：“男人总是不在意自己的健康，而女人的健康意识则要强得多。”

统计数据显示，从1993年到2006年，英国男性的肥胖率从13%上升至24%，过度肥胖比例从0.2%增长至1.5%；目前英国男性的体重超标率达到43%。

相反，英国16岁以上女性的肥胖率从2003年的16%增长到了2004年的24%，2005年有所下降。从2004年至今，女性体重超标率从34%下降到了32%。

此外，这项有关“性别差异”的年度报告显示，男性过度饮酒的致死率在过去15年中翻了一番，每10万人中有18.3人因此而死亡；而女性的这一数据仅从5人上升到了8.8人。

报告指出，英国女性的平均寿命为70.3岁（男性为67.9岁），不过她们在最后六年的健康状况较差。

报告还指出，从1986年至2006年，英国未婚男女同居的比例增长了一倍，在16岁至59岁的人群中，有13%的人同居。

目前英国的单身人口达到700万，其中女性占三分之二。

此外，对七岁至已获学历者各个年龄段人群开展的全国性测试结果表明，女孩在各个年龄段的表现都比男孩好，不过男性的收入还是比女性高。目前英国的工资性别差异创历史最低纪录，为12.6%。

如今，英国职业男女的数量基本相当，在已有孩子的女性中，有三分之二的人正在工作。不过女性中有一半的人选择兼职，而男性的这一比例仅为六分之一。