Obesity: It isn't just deadly, but each year it costs the globe TWO TRILLION!

It should come as no surprise to anyone that terrorism and war hurt the global economy. What is incredible is that just behind them in terms of actual cost is smoking, and obesity.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A new report from the economic consulting firm McKinsey has revealed that obesity is now a major drain on the world's resources, which may cost $2 trillion annually.

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Combining the cost of healthcare, lost productivity and other spending that is needed to minimize obesity, the annual cost is 2.8% of the world's economic output.

To put that in perspective, war and terrorism combined cost the world just $2.1 trillion annually, as does smoking; alcoholism costs just $1.4 trillion, illiteracy is just $ 1.3 trillion and even climate change at just $1 trillion.

"Obesity is a critical global issue that requires a comprehensive, international intervention strategy," the report says.

"More than 2.1 billion people-nearly 30 percent of the global population-are overweight or obese. That's almost two and a half times the number of adults and children who are undernourished. Obesity is responsible for about 5 percent of all deaths a year worldwide, and its global economic impact" is "nearly equivalent to the global impact of smoking or of armed violence, war, and terrorist."

The report points to the rapidly growing culture of unhealthy lifestyles and a world that either won't or can't exercise (because of desk-based jobs) and a taste for high fat and sugary foods.

While the United States and the developing world began this alarming trend, obesity has become firmly entrenched in many developing nations. In these countries, often those that are too poor to effectively deal with obesity, these trends are growing fast.

The U.N.'s World Health Organization estimates that about one in three adults were overweight in 2008, and more than one in ten was obese.

Worldwide, twice as many people die from problems related to being overweight or obese as die from malnutrition-these include things like heart disease and type-2 diabetes.

If the current trend continues, McKinsey estimates that about half of the world's adult population could be obese or overweight by 2030.

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