Dubai: The insurance industry has expressed concern over the growing problem of obesity in the UAE, where two thirds of the residents are either overweight or obese.
Zurich International Life has recently looked into the body mass index (BMI), a measure of high body fatness, of at least 20,000 UAE residents who wanted to buy life insurance or critical illness cover, and it found that the majority have weight issues.
Nearly half of the insurance applicants (47.5 per cent) were found to be overweight, while another 13 per cent were obese.
The high prevalence of obesity has some serious financial implications, with one insurer alone spending about Dh27 million a year on life insurance claims associated with weight-related health issues in the Middle East.
People with excess weight are believed to be more at risk of developing health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.
As the incidence of obesity increases, more people are likely to seek medical treatment, thus the cost of caring for these patients will normally increase.
Zurich’s data alone showed that over the past three years, 48 per cent of the Dh173 million in life insurance and critical illness claims paid in the Middle East were for customers with heart-related diseases, which are often linked to high BMI.
“We want to share this BMI data to highlight the scale of obesity in the UAE and to raise awareness of the health consequences of an unhealthy weight. The average age of our life insurance claimants is a worrying young age of 51 and a high BMI is associated with many of these claims,” said Chris Bagnall, chief underwriter at Zurich International Life.
Dr Jacob Chacko Kuttickal, specialist cardiologist at the Prime Medical Centre in Jumeirah, Dubai, said that a high BMI increases the risk of many health problems, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and some cancers.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), at least 2.8 million people die every year for being overweight or obese. The worldwide prevalence of obesity has more than doubled between 1980 and 2014, with 13 per cent of the world’s adult population alone found to be obese last year.
In Zurich’s survey, 47.5 per cent of the UAE residents were overweight, with a BMI of between 25 and 30, while another 13 per cent were obese, with a BMI of over 30. Since the average BMI in the UAE is 25.6, the average UAE resident is considered overweight.
“BMI is a simple method for understanding if you fall into the overweight or obese categories and if you are susceptible to some of these health risks,” said Kuttickal.
