Geumcheon-gu in Seoul has an obesity rate nearly twice that of Seocho-gu in the same city, new data shows. Across all 252 municipalities nationwide, the gap between the highest and lowest obesity rates reached 2.5-fold.
According to obesity data on National Health Insurance subscribers aged 20 and older that Rep. Kim Mi-ae of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, obtained from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), Geumcheon-gu recorded an obesity rate of 8.55% last year — the highest among Seoul's 25 districts. The obesity rate here refers to the share of the population with a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or above.
Geumcheon-gu's obesity rate was nearly 1.8 times that of Seocho-gu (4.82%), the lowest among Seoul districts in a simple comparison. Geumcheon-gu also had Seoul's highest rate of overweight residents — those with a BMI between 25.0 and below 30.0 — at 32.36%. Gangnam-gu had the lowest overweight rate in Seoul at 26.02%.
Seoul fared relatively better overall. Twenty-one of Seoul's 25 districts had obesity rates below the national average of 7.83% last year.
Nationally, Ongjin County in Incheon had the highest obesity rate at 11.21%. That is 2.5 times the rate of Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, which had the lowest at 4.47%.
Among the 10 municipalities with the lowest obesity rates nationwide, areas with generally high income levels in the Seoul metropolitan region dominated. They included Seocho-gu, as well as Seoul's Gangnam-gu (4.89%), Songpa-gu (5.70%), and Yongsan-gu (5.82%), Bundang-gu in Seongnam (5.06%), and Suji-gu in Yongin (5.37%).
In contrast, nearly half of the top 10 municipalities with the highest obesity rates were in Gangwon Province, including Yanggu County (10.33%), Hwacheon County (10.21%), Cheorwon County (10.13%), and Inje County (10.08%). Dongducheon (10.04%) in northern Gyeonggi Province was the only Seoul metropolitan area municipality in the top 10.
Living conditions and economic levels can be seen as factors contributing to regional health disparities.
Similarly, healthy life expectancy — the number of years a person lives in good physical and mental health — stood at 72.7 years for those in the top income quintile and 64.3 years for the bottom quintile as of 2022, a gap of 8.4 years. The gap widened from 8.1 years in 2018.
According to the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity, obesity is not simply a matter of gaining weight but can cause various diseases.
Type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, fatty liver disease, gallbladder disease, coronary artery disease, stroke, sleep apnea, gout, osteoarthritis, menstrual irregularities, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer are among the representative obesity-related diseases, and mental health conditions can follow as well.
"The reality that obesity rates differ more than twofold depending on where people live demands a national-level response," Rep. Kim stressed. "The government must actively pursue region-specific health management policies."
The Ministry of Health and Welfare recently approved the 6th National Health Promotion Plan (2026–2030), maintaining the goals of the 5th plan (2021–2030): extending healthy life expectancy and improving health equity across income levels and regions.