MBABANE – Eswatini’s position among the top African countries with the highest percentage of adults classified as obese has drawn renewed attention to a growing, but often under-discussed public-health challenge.
Obesity is a chronic, complex disease characterised by excessive body fat accumulation resulting from caloric intake exceeding energy expenditure.
With an estimated 15.62 per cent of adults living with obesity (BMI ≥30), the country ranks fourth on the continent, behind only Egypt, Libya and Algeria. While the ranking may appear surprising at first glance, health experts say it reflects broader structural changes affecting many Southern African countries.
According to the report, obesity in Eswatini is not simply the result of individual lifestyle choices, but it is the outcome of a complex mix of economic, social and demographic transitions that have reshaped how people eat, work and live over the past three decades.
One of the most significant drivers is what has been referred to as the ‘nutrition transition’.
As countries modernise and urbanise, diets typically shift away from traditional foods such as whole grains, legumes and locally produced vegetables towards highly processed, energy-dense foods rich in fats, sugar and salt. These foods are often cheaper, more accessible and aggressively marketed, particularly in urban areas. In Eswatini, rapid retail expansion, growing fast-food availability and cross-border food supply chains, especially from neighbouring South Africa, have accelerated this dietary transformation.
Combined with declining levels of physical activity, this shift has created an environment where weight gain becomes increasingly common across all income groups.
Urbanisation has also played a major role. As more citizens move into towns and cities or take up employment in service-sector and office-based jobs, daily physical exertion declines sharply compared to traditional agricultural or manual labour occupations.
It was also revealed that increased reliance on motorised transport, longer commuting times and more screen-based lifestyles further reduce physical activity.
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