The obesity rate for South Korean adults (aged 15 and over) came in at 5.3 percent, one of the lowest among 35 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the latest data shows.

According to the OECD’s Obesity Update 2017, published last week, the county’s overall estimated obesity rate is the second lowest, following Japan which recorded 3.7 percent.

But the rate here is expected to increase, the data predicts, marking 6 percent in 2020 and 9 percent in 2030.

Besides the two, Italy came in third with 9.8 percent, making it one of the only three countries across the advanced countries with obesity rate less than 10 percent.

The heaviest counties include the United States with 38.2 percent of population considered obese, followed by Mexico, New Zealand, Hungary, Australia and the UK.

Men are more obese than women in Korea, the research found, whose obesity rate stands at 6.1 percent and 4.6 percent respectively.

Education is partly to blame among women considered obese as the data found less schooling makes them more likely to be overweight, although it has no such correlation among men.

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)