53% of the population is overweight and obese and 42% is totally sedentary

53% of the Spanish population is overweight and obese, something that is significantly influenced by lack of exercise. 42.6% of the population is totally sedentary and does not spend even an hour a week on physical activity.

This is one of the conclusions of the study presented this Wednesday by the Spanish Obesity Society (Seedo) on the occasion of the World Day Against Obesity that is celebrated on March 4 and that confirms the “alarming” rates of obesity and overweight that Spain endures and that the covid-19 pandemic has only worsened.

Thus, 53.8% of the more than 1,000 respondents declared having weight problems, 36.6% overweight and 17.2% obese; It is more frequent in men and increases as age increases, reaching 66% in people over 65 years of age, according to data presented by the Seedo president, María del Mar Malagón.

It is also a chronic disease: six out of ten have been fighting it for more than 25 years, although only half have received advice to reduce their excess weight.

70.9% would like to be thinner, especially women, of whom 78.2% have tried to lose kilos at some point in their lives compared to 67.2% of men.

In total, 80.6% of overweight people and 91.4% of those with obesity have tried to lose weight at some point, he added. Sharona Azriel, Associate of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service of the Infanta Sofía University Hospital in Madrid.

Not in vain, obesity brings with it an enormous social stigma: 43.9% have felt self-conscious about it, again more women (54.5%). 14.1% of those surveyed have even felt rejected on some occasion.

Other reasons for obesity and overweight

Two years ago, Seedo carried out another survey after the confinement that revealed that 44% of Spaniards gained weight during the confinement, mostly between 1 and 3 kilos.

The change of routines, with a greater intake of alcohol and snacks, in addition to the lack of activity, was behind these data.

Now, the implementation of teleworking, spending more hours sitting in front of the computer and near the kitchen, stress or limitations to go to sports centers have consolidated this trend, said Albert Lecube, head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service of the Arnau de Villanova University Hospital (Lleida).

In fact, most of the participants, who were interviewed at the end of January, attribute their weight problems to lack of exercise (32%), followed by poor nutritional habits (20%) and anxious or anxiety-related components. emotional management (19%).

Up to 42.6% state that they are totally sedentary or do not engage in physical exercise (including brisk walking, running, jogging, cycling, gymnastics or any other sports activity) even one hour a week.

EFE/ AD/ Andreu Dalmau.

Almost half, 47.2%, spend between 1 and 5 hours a day sitting, lying down or inactive (not counting hours of sleep), 31% spend between 5 and 8 hours a day and 16% exceed that weather. Four out of ten spend between 2 and 5 hours looking at the screen and 28.1% spend more than 5.

In contrast, 44.8% practice some sport, especially walking and gym activities, although only 22.7% take, on average, more than 7,000 steps daily.

Of the sedentary population, 80.7% admit that they could spend at least 15 minutes a day exercising for 4 or 5 minutes a week; 94.9% of young people say that they could do more than one hour a week, but they do not do it because they do not like it or because of the high price of sports centers.

Faced with this, César Bustos, CEO of “There are no excuses”, proposes, for example, getting up every hour and doing five squats or following exercise rituals on social networks such as YouTube. What does not attract them? “Dancing is a fun and non-injurious activity. We have to look for activities that we like.”

If you choose to walk, do it “as if you were going to miss the bus” because for this activity to be really effective for losing weight, you have to do it at a rate of at least 100 steps per minute.

But the most effective for fat loss, and contrary to what has been thought for a long time, is not cardio activities, but strength training, which also helps prevent injuries.

All in all, the experts have wanted to make it clear that the war against the obesity epidemic requires a much more global approach with individualized treatments that range from diets to more hours of sleep, less stress or better access to drugs.

Half of the world's population vulnerable to climate change

Climate change will increase diseases, premature deaths and will cause an increase in malnutrition in regions such as Africa or Latin America, warns a new UN report, which confirms that almost half of the world’s population is already vulnerable to global warming

Two women walk through the arid land in Somalia in a file image. EFE / Pablo Tosco

Between 3.3 and 3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change, underlines the document, which anticipates the possible effects of this global warming on health, food security, cities and other aspects of human life.

In the medium and long term (between 2041 and 2100) the authors of the study anticipate an increase in diseases transmitted through the consumption of food, water and other factors, as well as deaths related to heat waves.

The report thus anticipates an increase in dengue cases, with longer and more geographically widespread epidemics of this disease, which could even make it reach Europe.

It also anticipates more mental health problems, such as anxiety or stress, “especially among children, adolescents, the elderly, and people with underlying conditions.”

At the food level, the report warns about the possible decrease in agricultural production, which could cause malnutrition, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South and Central America.

The report indicates that populations living in coastal areas are especially vulnerable to climate change, with approximately one billion people exposed to long-term extreme weather events.

In the current context, with a global average temperature of approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius above industrial levels, human populations are already being negatively impacted, also economically, with serious damage to sectors such as agriculture, fishing , energy or tourism.

In cities, especially in the most vulnerable informal settlements, climate change has intensified phenomena such as pollution and the so-called “heat islands”, processes that affect key infrastructures such as transport, energy networks, water supply or the sewer.

Climate change has already contributed to health crises, especially in small island states, although it has also been key to the increase in floods and food insecurity in Africa and Latin America.

Experts acknowledge that although non-climatic factors such as geopolitical tensions are still the main drivers of conflicts, in some latitudes they have influenced their duration, severity or frequency.

Flooding in Sana’a, Yemen, in May 2019. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

Escalation of violence in Arauca has its population frightened

Interviewed credits:

Luz Marina Ardila – Inhabitant of Tame, Arauca

José Romano – Tame Journalist

Diego Molano – Minister of Defense

Mary Hernández – Inhabitant of Tame, Arauca

Javier Hernández – Venezuelan displaced in Tame

RPTV NEWS AGENCY team:

Journalist: Daniel Muñoz

Camera and Edition: Oscar Cavadia

BOGOTA COLOMBIA). Tuesday, February 15, 2022 (RPTV NEWS AGENCY). The department of Arauca is experiencing an escalation of violence that has left more than 80 dead and 6 attacks with explosives, an x-ray of the worsening of the conflict in recent years in the country.

Is Arauca practically without God and without law? Yes, definitely yes.

This is what Luz Marina, an Araucanian, says says that they are practically in danger there. “I don’t know what security they are giving because the truth is that you don’t see any of that.”

Like her, today the more than 272,000 inhabitants of this region are panicked and live in fear of the war that the FARC and ELN dissidents are leading.

“Unfortunately we could say that the peasant is the most affected, since he has to live with the actors in the conflict,” said José Romano, a journalist for Tame.

In 2022 there are already 86 dead and more than 6 powerful charges have exploded. The Government has advanced two security councils in the area to seek solutions to the difficult situation.

“What is happening today in Arauca originates in Venezuela. In Colombia, with our Public Force, what we are going to do is act as has been done to protect the lives of the entire population of Arauca,” said Defense Minister Diego Molano.

Arauca has 7 municipalities, and to get from Arauca, its capital, by road to Tame, it takes at least 2 hours, but today it is practically impossible.

“Public order doesn’t allow it, it scares you because if you leave you don’t know if you’ll come back,” says Mary Hernández, a resident of Tame.

In municipalities such as Arauquita, Fortul, Saravena and Tame, few dare to speak out, including the more than 1,200 Venezuelans who have arrived in Arauca as displaced persons.

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2021

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Despite Beijing's Baby Boosterism, China's Population Growth Hits New Low

WASHINGTON — 

For the past 10 years, China’s domestic policy changes have carried a growing sense of demographic urgency. A strictly enforced one-child mandate changed to a two-kids-in-some-cases option (2013), which morphed into two children for all (2016), which rolled over to the current government push for three offspring (2021).

But where are the babies? Why aren’t playgrounds as jammed as Beijing’s notorious 3rd Ring Road? The workers of tomorrow are nowhere to be found.

Despite the government’s best efforts, the data released last week by China’s National Bureau of Statistics show that in 2021 in a nation of 1.4 billion people, there was a net population growth of only 480,000 people — against 10.1 million deaths and 10.6 million births — suggesting a disconnect between China’s policy goals and its people.

FILE – Families with young children pose for photos in Beijing, Feb. 13, 2021.Struggling with an aging population and declining birth rates, China is trying to shift its population policies to avert a demographic crisis.

“Working overtime night and day and facing the ridiculous cost of goods … who wants your children to grow up in such an environment?” said a poster on Weibo, China’s microblogging platform.

“You can’t have both mortgage and formula,” another joked.

A third quipped, “Let’s guess … will this year’s Spring Festival gala be promoting the three kid policies?” The Spring Festival Gala, a TV production from the state-owned China Media Group, was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s most watched TV program since 1983. And, according to state-controlled CCTV, it is an annual must-watch New Year’s Eve extravaganza of dancing, singing and comedy.

China’s birthrate has declined swiftly over the past five years, from 12.4 births for every 1,000 citizens in 2017 to 7.52 births for every 1,000 citizens in 2021, the lowest in nearly 60 years, according to statistics bureau records. The time span is significant because the Great Chinese Famine began in 1959 and ended in 1961, three years before China conducted its benchmark second census. “Some 30 million Chinese starved to death, and about the same number of births were lost or delayed,” according to an article about the famine in the National Institutes of Health archive.

Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Big Country With an Empty Nest, told VOA Mandarin that “as China’s economic miracle has been heavily based on its inexhaustible labor force, an inflection point in its population will inevitably mean an inflection point in its economic model.”

n this June 1, 2017 photo, women walk with children wearing matching hats as they cross a bridge at a public park on International Children’s Day in Beijing.

Has population already peaked?

Although scholars have already referred to China’s demographic crisis as a ticking time bomb, China’s population may have peaked much earlier than projected given a rapidly aging population coupled with the rapidly declining birth rate, Yi said.

China’s National Population Development Plan (2016-2030) estimated that the fertility rate between 2020 and 2030 would hover around 1.8 babies per woman of childbearing age, and that the country would start to experience negative population growth in 2031. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a public policy think tank, a nation needs a fertility rate of 2.1 to maintain a stable population.

China’s true fertility rate may be lower than the official estimate, Yi said. “We will start to see the population decline in 2022, nine years earlier than expected,” he added.

Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics, wrote last week on his company’s website that “the most likely scenario is that slowing productivity growth and a shrinking workforce prevent China ever passing the U.S.”

China’s seventh census, released in 2020, found that there were 880 million between the ages of 16 and 59 in the workforce, a sharp drop of more than 40 million compared with 2010 figures. You Jun, vice minister of China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said in March that China’s labor force would continue to decline, shrinking by as many as 35 million people in the next five years. In about 25 years, one-third of China’s population will be retirees, according to the 2020 census report by China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

Global issue

China is not alone in facing this issue. A study published in October 2020 in The Lancet, a medical journal, warns of the “jaw-dropping” economic, social and geopolitical effects on nearly every country as fertility rates fall and populations shrink. “Our findings suggest that continued trends in female educational attainment and access to contraception will hasten declines in fertility and slow population growth,” said the authors of the study.

Thomas Duesterberg, a senior fellow who specializes in economics at the Hudson Institute, said population growth is one of the most important sources of economic growth because as the workforce declines, so does the rate of innovation.

“The innovativeness and ingenuity of human beings is reduced because a large part of the creativity of people comes in the first part of their career,” he told VOA Mandarin. “So, if you have an aging population and a declining population, you’re likely to see less of that ability to innovate, which is another key element of growth going forward.”

Ning Jizhe, head of China’s National Bureau of Statistics, acknowledged after the release of the 2020 census that “the country’s economic structure and technological development need to be adjusted and adapted” as the country’s population structure changes.

Bill Conerly, an economist and the author of The Flexible Stance: Thriving in a Boom/Bust Economy, said the declining birth rate would not have an immediate impact on China’s economy.

“A baby is a net drain on the economy for 15, 25 years and sometimes even longer. So I don’t put a lot of importance in this,” he told VOA Mandarin.

But in the long term, the declining birth rate will eventually affect the labor market. “Actually, the birth rate has been coming down for quite some time,” he said. “So maybe China’s only 10 years away from having a very tight labor market. It will eventually come.”