Obesity is draining around €59 billion a year from EU member states' pockets in direct health care costs, but the overall economic impact could be as high as €118 to €236 billion, with rising childhood obesity auguring badly for the future.
The startling €59 billion figure - three times the size of Bulgaria's GDP and well over Brussels' €43 billion a year Common Agricultural Policy budget - is based on a May 2006 European Commission estimate that obesity costs the EU an average of 7 per...
Back our independent journalism by becoming a supporting member
Already a member? Login hereAndrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.
Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.