England’s fattest towns, where four out of five adults are overweight or obese, have been revealed in a new MailOnline analysis.
County Durham takes the crown for the fattest area in England with 77.7 per cent of residents overweight and 34 per cent being obese.
In contrast, the thinnest area in the country was the famously affluent Borough of Kensington and Chelsea with just 45.8 per cent of its residents overweight and only 13.2 per cent classified as obese.
This compares to the national figure of one in four adults being obese, while just over three in five are overweight.
It comes as research suggests bulging waistlines have caused life expectancy in the country to plummet, with the average person in England now living nine months less than they did in 2011.
Now, an exclusive map, crafted using official Government data, shows just how bad the obesity crisis is in your town.
Close behind County Durham was the Metropolitan borough of Wirral, near Merseyside, where the obesity rate is almost 36 per cent while 76.3 per cent are overweight.
Third place went to the district of Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, where over 38.4 per cent of its 100,000 strong population are obese and 76 per cent overweight.
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Meanwhile, Wigan took top spot in the obesity rankings with 39.1 per cent of its population being clinically obese while 70.8 per cent are overweight.
Obesity is defined as having a body-mass-index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on your weight in relation to your height, of over 30.
Meanwhile a BMI of more than 25 is considered overweight but not obese.
Joining Kensington and Chelsea for thinnest parts of the nation was Tower Hamlets in East London where 45.9 per cent of people were overweight and 16 per cent obese.
Westminster came third with 47.9 per cent of the population overweight and 16.2 per cent obese.
The nation’s ever expanding waistlines have been partly blamed for England dropping in the life expectancy rankings in a group of 20 comparable nations.
Rising obesity combined with health improvements in other European countries led to England falling to 19th in terms of improvements for life expectancy.
Comparing the difference in expectancy between 2011-2019 with 2019-2021, England recording a loss of -0.67 years or roughly nine fewer months.
County Durham takes the crown for the fattest area in Britain 80 per cent of its population being overweight and with 34 per cent being obese
Wigan has the highest rate of clinically obese people as opposed to overweight with 39 per cent being obese
Only Greece ranked lower in 20th place with a decline of -0.71 years, roughly just over nine fewer months of life.
In terms of actual life expectancy, data showed England ranked 14th out of the 20 nations, at 81.69 years.
It came as separate data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week suggested that a baby boy born in the UK in 2023 could expect to live on average to 86.7 years.
Girls still have a longer anticipated lifespan of 90 years, although the gap has been narrowing.
The ONS also produced an online gadget that estimates how long you have left based on your current age and gender.
Medics have warned for years that the NHS is struggling to cope with the obesity crisis which sees thousands of hospital admissions from conditions linked to weight gain.
Diabetes, heart disease, breathing issues, strokes and mental health problems are just some of the illnesses associated with being overweight.
Obesity specifically raises the risk of a number of deadly health conditions like cancer, stroke, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
By specific health condition heart failure was the costliest per patient, tallying at just over £3,650 and £4,320 between different weight classes. This was followed by kidney disease, costing between £2,900 and almost £4,200, and cardiovascular disease, coming in at nearly £2,700 at just shy of £3,500
Hospital admissions for obese Brits accounted for the biggest overall spend, followed by prescriptions for medications to help them manage the consequences of excess weight at an average of nearly £340 per year for the most obese patients. This was followed by primary care services like GP appointments which could cost an average of £287 per year per patient
The government has previously said that obesity alone costs the NHS £6.5billion every year, with the condition also being the second biggest preventable cause of cancer.
An analysis last year found average patient costs the NHS at least £1,000 in healthcare costs per year.
It came after another study, published at the end of 2023 found Britain’s ballooning obesity crisis was now costing the nation nearly £100billion per year.
