The share of young Italian women with obesity has climbed from 3.6 percent in 2016 to 6.3 percent in 2025, a 75 percent increase that far outpaces the 35 percent rise recorded among men of the same age, according to an Istat analysis presented at the eighth Italian Barometer Obesity Forum in Rome. Overall excess weight in Italy remained nearly flat, but the data reveal a generational shift: obesity rates are rising fastest in the 18–34 and 35–44 age brackets, while older cohorts show little or no growth. Viewed alongside a new Gallup poll from the United States, where the obesity rate fell from a record 39.9 percent in 2022 to 36.4 percent in 2026, the Italian figures highlight diverging trajectories on either side of the Atlantic.

The American decline coincides with a rapid expansion of GLP-1 receptor agonist use. The Gallup survey found that 11 percent of US adults now take a GLP-1 medication for weight loss, up three percentage points from 2024; 68 percent of users reported taking branded drugs such as Ozempic, Mounjaro or Zepbound, while 19 percent used unapproved compounded versions. Public awareness of the drugs’ weight-loss indication has reached 91 percent. In Italy, the government has taken a regulatory path: during the current legislature it became the first country to pass a law recognising obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease, and it established a national observatory to monitor data and promote healthy lifestyles. Health Minister Orazio Schillaci told the forum that the 2026–2031 National Prevention Plan integrates health, schools, sport and communication to foster active living.

Novo Nordisk, which contributed non-conditioning support to the forum, stressed the scale of the challenge. General Manager Jens Pii Olesen noted that Italy has six million obese adults and one of Europe’s highest rates of childhood and adolescent obesity, warning that “what is already a pandemic will become even more serious when these children and adolescents grow up.” The company’s messaging, echoed by clinicians at the event, frames obesity as a multifactorial disease linked to over 200 conditions, including cardiovascular illness. A separate analysis by Brazilian endocrinologist Laiza Tabisz, published in Valor Econômico, underscores the metabolic complexity: hormonal imbalances involving ghrelin, leptin, insulin and cortisol can actively defend fat stores, making sustained weight loss difficult without medical intervention.

The Italian Barometer Obesity Forum continues to gather institutions, scientific societies and patient groups to define intervention strategies. The next factual milestone is the operational rollout of Italy’s new obesity observatory and the implementation of the prevention plan, while US health authorities will monitor whether the GLP-1-driven decline in obesity is sustained as drug uptake grows.