A recent report by the Office of Health Economics, commissioned by EFPIA, shows that elevated BMI is associated with 278,000 deaths and almost 8 million years of healthy life lost annually across eight European countries. The economic costs are equally significant, accounting for 0.6% to 1.4% of national GDP.

Elevated BMI costs Italy an estimated €20.3 billion annually (€345 per capita), split between €12.9 billion in direct costs (63%) and €7.5 billion in indirect costs (37%). Overall, expenditure related to elevated BMI amounts to roughly 0.9% of GDP, approaching the amount of government spending on defence.

Find out more in the report and the infographic.