Global eating disorder prevalence reaches 18 million people

An international team of scientists, led by Ruhai Bai of Nanjing University, has released a study in JAMA Psychiatry detailing the global burden of eating disorders. As of 2023, an estimated 18.1 million people worldwide were living with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.

Of those affected, 12.6 million (69.4 percent) were female and 5.5 million were male. The disorders disproportionately impact younger populations, with 41.2 percent of sufferers aged between 10 and 24. In 2023, these conditions resulted in a global loss of 3.83 million healthy life years.

The study highlights a significant upward trend, noting that the number of affected individuals has increased by 71 percent since 1990. While the highest age-standardized prevalence rates were observed in high-income regions such as Australia, the Pacific region, and Western Europe, the largest relative increases in prevalence occurred in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.