Majority of Koreans Have Health Issues

More than half of Koreans are believed to be less than fully healthy, while four in 10 suffer from obesity.

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According to data published by the National Health Insurance Service on Thursday, of 15.08 million people who had general health checkups last year, 23.5 percent were found to be taking medication for diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes or tuberculosis, while 30.4 percent were at risk of developing one.

Compared to 2013, the proportion of those with a disease soared 5.1 percentage points, while that of the risk group fell 4.7 percentage points. The number found to have no particular health problems decreased slightly by 0.4 percentage point.

"This apparently is the result of the aging population, with an increase in the number of people with age-related illnesses", an NHIS spokesman said.

Some 38.2 percent had a body mass index of 25 or higher. BMI is defined as a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters. A BMI of 25 or above is considered overweight, while 30 or higher is categorized as obese.

The proportion of overweight or obese people jumped from 33.1 percent in 2013 to 38.2 percent last year. More men (45.7 percent) were overweight or obese than women (29.6 percent).

Among men, those in their 30s had the highest obesity rate at 51 percent, while for women it was 70-somethings, at 42.7 percent.