As the number of children and adolescents with obesity continues to grow globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued its first global guidelines for obesity management in children and adolescents. WHO estimates that approximately 170 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 years were living with obesity in 2024. This includes 70 million children aged 5–9 and 100 million adolescents aged 10–19. This has increased fourfold since 1990, from 2% to 8%.
