The numbers Indian parents are not seeing
A 2023 analysis published in The Lancet tracked childhood obesity rates across South Asia and found that India now has over 12.5 million children with obesity, the second-highest count globally after China. The rate has more than tripled since the early 2000s. This is not a problem of wealthy urban families alone. The National Family Health Survey-5 data shows rising overweight rates among children in Tier 2 cities and semi-urban clusters, where cheap ultra-processed food has reached faster than nutritional awareness has.
