According to Türkiye's Health Survey, the obesity rate in the country rose to 21.8% last year.
The results of the “2025 Türkiye Health Survey” were published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
The findings show that, based on body mass index calculated from height and weight, the proportion of people aged 15 and over classified as obese increased from 20.2% in 2022 to 21.8% in 2025.
When broken down by gender, 24.8% of women were found to be obese, while 32.2% were classified as pre-obese. Among men, these figures stood at 18.7% and 43.1%, respectively.
The survey also highlights persistently low levels of physical activity. In 2025, 86.6% of the population was not engaging in regular physical activity.
Among men, the inactivity rate slightly improved, falling from 85.3% in 2022 to 83.5% in 2025. For women, it decreased from 92.7% to 89.7%.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week. Despite this, only a small share of the population met this guideline in 2025 – 4.1% of men and 2.7% of women reported doing 150-300 minutes of exercise weekly.
The survey also examined difficulties in daily physical functioning. The most commonly reported issue was difficulty climbing stairs, affecting 8.3% of women and 3.7% of men.
Problems with learning or memory were reported by 5.4% of women and 2.8% of men, while difficulty walking affected 5.6% of women and 2.8% of men.
Overall, about 6% of the population reported some form of difficulty with stair use.
Among children aged 0-6, upper respiratory tract infections were the most common illness in the last six months, affecting 28.5% of the group. This was followed by diarrhea at 24% and lower respiratory tract infections at 5.2%.
In the 7-14 age group, upper respiratory infections again ranked first at 24.6%, followed by diarrhea at 16.4% and dental or oral health problems at 8.2%.
For adults aged 15 and over, the most frequently reported long-term health issue in the past year was lower back problems, affecting 24.3% in 2025 (slightly down from 24.6% in 2022). Other common conditions included hypertension (16.9%), neck problems (16.7%), diabetes (11.9%) and high blood lipid levels (10.1%).
The share of daily tobacco users aged 15 and over increased from 28.3% in 2022 to 30.1% in 2025. Among men, the rate stood at 42.9%, while for women it was 17.5% in the most recent year.
Meanwhile, the proportion of people who do not use tobacco, including both former users and those who have never smoked, declined slightly from 68% to 66.8%.
On a more positive note, preventive screenings among women have increased.
Among women aged 40 and over, the rate of mammography use rose from 10.8% in 2022 to 16.7% in 2025. However, 42.4% of women in this age group reported never having had a mammogram.
Similarly, among women aged 15 and over, the share who had a smear test increased from 7.2% to 11.8% over the same period. Still, 59% reported never having undergone the test.
