Effects of Obesity to a Nation’s Productivity and Economy

Abstract

In recent decades, Obesity has become a major global threat to the economy and individuals' overall productivity. For instance, in the United States, a bigger margin of the adults are overweight, and a significant number are obese. Researchers to date have outlined on the minimum four major categories of economic and productivity impacts linked to Obesity: productivity costs, transport expenses, human capital costs, and direct medical costs. This essay outlines how these factors affect a given nation's economy and productivity with respect to the research done. The epidemic impact offers room for more study of production factors to have a growing nation.

Key words: United States, productivity cost, Obesity, epidemic.

 

 

Introduction

Obesity has grown to a global pandemic in recent decades. This has posed a major threat to individuals' general productivity affecting the productivity and economic status of the nation. Obesity and overweight have been linked to some chronic maladies such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This impacts the productivity of an individual to the growth of the economic status wholesomely. Research carried out In the United states outlines that Obesity endangers society's development due to the financial burden. Attributes of Obesity, such as cost linked to disabilities and absenteeism at workplaces, poses a significant economic threat. Certain factors such as production cost, transport expenses, human capital costs, and direct medical costs have been identified to cause an economic burden to the nation (Hammond & Levine, 2010). This essay outlines how these factors integrate into the financial well-being of a nation.

Medical spending by obese victims poses an economic threat to the nation. Individuals suffering from Obesity incurs huge medicals as this disease is linked to other prolonged ailments such as hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and stroke. To have the body system running and sustain all these maladies linked to Obesity, individuals have to keep seeking medical attention and have bills to settle. Obesity medical spending occurs to not only the adults but also to children. Annual medical expenditures to children suffering from Obesity in the United States is estimated to be $14 billion (Hammond & Levine, 2010). This is a considerable amount of capital that can significantly help build the economic status by investing it in projects that will generate more income. 

Other than the medical cost, productivity costs due to Obesity also impacts the economic status of a nation. Obesity affects an individual's general productivity as it makes them less active and vibrant (Tremmel et al., 2017). Due to obesity victims being less active, the labor market experiences a shortage of employees. This shortage is due to absenteeism and decreased productivity at the workplace. Absenteeism happens when the victim is seeking medical attention and hence fails to show up at work, leaving a gap in duty attendance. Obesity victims are less productive in the workplace, and this lowers productivity. The economy of a nation depends solely on its citizens' productivity and the utilization of its resources (Tremmel et al., 2017). Low productivity dictates low outputs, and hence if the nation falls victim, economic burden will be a factor hindering the growth of a country.

Besides the production and medical costs, transportation, and human capital costs affect a nation's productivity and economic status. Due to the overweight nature, victims of Obesity tend to spend more on transport, as walking for longer distances is stress (Spieker & Pyzocha, 2016). Larger and accommodative vehicles have to be put in place to ferry the overweight individuals, fuel cost is added on top. According to Spieker and Pyzocha (2016), victims of Obesity tend to spend more fueling the vehicles, which poses a threat to the environment due to greenhouse gas emissions. This impacts the surroundings creating a non-competitive business environment lowering productivity. An enabling environment is essential in creating an economically thriving nation. The human capital cost is another factor influencing productivity. For an economy to grow, a knowledgeable human resource is mandated. Research has outlined that Obesity leads to low performance in school and drop out cases are present. A cohort carried out showed that obese people have low self-esteem and tend to perform low (Hammond & Levine, 2010). These individuals acquire less or no skills if drop out cases happen. With a low level of skills, productivity, and the economic status of the nation is altered.

Conclusively, it is evident that Obesity has adverse impacts on the productivity and the economic status of a nation. The economic rate of a given country is directly affected by its productivity. Low levels of production will automatically dictate for a distorted financial situation. With the rising cases of Obesity, the fate of an economically thriving nation needs to be readdressed. The adverse impacts a country experiences due to Obesity can be solved by educating its citizens on leading favorable lifestyles. This can be achieved through regulating what diet people take and the substantial amounts one should do in a day. Improving medical diagnosis will also help in fighting Obesity. Further research on ways to curb Obesity is still open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Hammond, R. A., & Levine, R. (2010). The economic impact of Obesity in the United States. Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity: targets and therapy, 3, 285.

Spieker, E. A., & Pyzocha, N. (2016). Economic impact of Obesity. Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice, 43(1), 83-95.

Tremmel, M., Gerdtham, U. G., Nilsson, P. M., & Saha, S. (2017). Economic burden of Obesity: a systematic literature review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(4), 435.