Obesity is becoming one of Europe’s biggest public health challenges, but Albania continues to rank among the countries with the lowest obesity rates on the continent.

According to Eurostat data for 2022, 12.6% of Albanians aged 18 and over are classified as obese. This figure is below the European Union average of 16.3% and lower than in most countries across the region.

In the Western Balkans, only Montenegro reports a lower obesity rate, at 7.8%, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Serbia all record higher rates than Albania. Across Europe, Malta tops the list, with 26.6% of its adult population classified as obese.

Meanwhile, Eurostat reports that obesity continues to rise across the European Union. In 2025, around 16.3% of adults were classified as obese, while more than half of the population was either overweight or obese.

Experts attribute the trend to increasingly sedentary lifestyles, a lack of physical activity, and changing dietary habits. Obesity is measured using the Body Mass Index (BMI), with a BMI of 30 or higher classifying a person as obese.