Which are the 10 thinnest countries in Europe?
As obesity is becoming a huge problem in the world, promoting healthy lifestyle is becoming more and more important mission for all of us. The crucial factors for fighting this problem are involvement in healthy lifestyle promoting, which includes less salt, fat, and sugar in foods, drinking and smoking less, and getting involved in a regular physical activity. On the other hand, the thinnest population doesn’t necessarily reflect the good health status of the population, since reasons for it might be malnutrition for example which are consequences of poverty. Nevertheless, since Europe does not have these kinds of problems, thinnest countries in Europe most probably reflect people’s involvement and awareness of what a healthy lifestyle is.
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As for the Most Obese Countries in Europe, we have used the same parameter for determining countries for our list of thinnest countries in Europe – BMI (body mass index). Except for the obesity we have used the percentage of the population with BMI over 30. In this case, we used the data on average BMI value, for both sexes and for ages over 18. The main source of data comes from the World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on noncommunicable diseases for 2014.
BMI is a generalizing measure that tends to illustrate the amount of fat in the body through mass and height of a person. It also tends to misrepresent the real state of fat in the body, since it uses two different proportions – mass and length (height), where weight represents both muscle and fat tissues. BMI is different for men and women, for different ages, and it is measured different for children. That is why we have chosen population over 18 years of age.
According to BMI values, there are 4 main categories which somewhat illustrate the amount of fat: underweight (BMI ˂ 18.5), normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9), overweight (25.0-29.9) and obese (BMI ≥ 30). You might notice that all of the countries on our list have BMI higher than 25. That is because the figure represents mean value for both men and women for the whole adult population, it does not necessarily mean that population itself is overweight (plus having in mind different muscle/fat proportions in people).
Factors that influence BMI and healthy lifestyle which make a population thin and fit are nutrition and physical exercise in the first place. Some of the examples of countries that are successful in promoting healthy lifestyle that reflects in their tiny population are:
10. Serbia
Mean BMI: 25.8
A study has shown that a bit less than 50% of the sample represented people of normal weight according to BMI. 24% of the sample was underweight, while others were overweight and obese. And although rates of overweight and obesity are on the rise as a global trend, Serbia is still among thin countries in Europe. That one reason for it is that many people do some kind of sports and physical activity, and Serbia has some very good athletes and success in sports like water polo, volleyball, tennis, basketball…
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9. Estonia
Mean BMI: 25.5
The rate of regularly physically active people in Estonia, the next one on the list of thinnest countries in Europe is slowly growing, but it is on the rise, which is a good thing. That was represented in a research that showed that around 45% of Estonian population is involved in some kind of regular weekly (twice a week for 30 minutes) physical activity, which is 8.7% more than in 2010.
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8. Croatia
Mean BMI: 25.5
A surprising fact is that around 80% of Croatian adult (18+) population is physically active (in terms of recommended physical activities for health), but only 25.6% of children and adolescents are involved in recommended physical activity. That is why the government is working hard on promoting sports and healthy way of life by education, building sport facilities, etc.
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7. Belgium
Mean BMI: 25.5
In Belgium, that’s next one on the list of thinnest countries in Europe, the percentage of physically active people is around 40. In order to encourage physical activity among its citizens, Belgian schools are promoting a healthier way of life. In Flanders, for example, school breaks are included through Sports move your School (Sport beweegt je school) and Healthy School (Gezonde School) programs.
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6. Netherlands
Mean BMI: 25.4
In the Netherlands 71% of the population is satisfied by their physical health, and therefore with their level of fitness. That is a really good figure, also having in mind that around 60% of adult population is involved in recommended physical activity. In order to get this figure even higher, there are programs in the Netherlands that tend to make fitness and sport activities closer to sedentary citizens with Sports and Physical activity close to the home program.
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5. Austria
Mean BMI: 25.4
Though BMI of Austrian population is among the lowest in Europe, making it one of the thinnest countries in Europe according to this criterion, only around 30% of the adult population is exercising regularly. Great success in promoting healthy lifestyle was gained by establishing The Austrian Day of Sports, which now gets around half a million visitors.
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4. Switzerland
Mean BMI: 25.3
An interesting fact about Switzerland, the next one on the list of thinnest countries in Europe that is that around 50% of the oldest population (65+) is involved in some kind of physical activity. Apart from that, the proportion of the whole population exercising regularly has increased in the past 10 years which has reflected beneficially to BMI of Swiss population and on preventing health problems.
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3. Romania
Mean BMI: 25.3
Although Romania takes one of the last places on the scale of people involved in regular physical activities in EU, it still remains one of the thinnest countries in Europe, according to Romanian population BMI. The Romanian government has, on behalf of that started a campaign For a healthy lifestyle, which promotes eating foods with less salt, fat and sugar, as well as exercising more than 30 minutes a day.
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2. France
Mean BMI: 25.3
France is one of the countries with the awareness of the importance of regular physical activities, as shown by the number of people tracking their level of fitness. Here in France it is 25% of males and 25% of females. French women are also famous for being thinnest and that reflect their good nutrition mostly.
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1. Denmark
Mean BMI: 25.3
Denmark is the thinnest country in Europe, according to their BMI value. Among others, one reason for that might be growing interest in exercising, shown in numbers – around 20% of Danish population are members of some commercial fitness center or gym.
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