Health Related Behaviour
More overweight men than women
Body mass, 2001, England
In recent years the proportion of men and women who are obese or overweight has risen. In 2001 over a fifth of men and women (aged 16 and over) in England were classified as obese. This compares with around a sixth of both in 1993. In 2001, although obesity was at similar levels for both men and women, nearly half of men were considered overweight compared with a third of women.
A small proportion of both men and women are underweight: 4 per cent and 6 per cent of men and women, respectively. Those aged 16 to 24 years are far more likely than any other age group to be underweight, at around one in six of both men and women. Young people are also the most likely age group to be of ‘desirable’ weight, with half of these men and women being so.
Men are almost twice as likely as women to exceed the recommended daily benchmarks for consumption of alcohol. The current Department of Health advice on alcohol is that consumption of between three and four units a day for men and two to three units a day for women should not lead to significant health risks. In 2001 almost two fifths of men aged 16 and over exceeded this recommended limit on their heaviest drinking day in the previous week, compared with just over one fifth of women.
Young people drink less frequently than older people but those aged 16 to 24, particularly young men, were more likely to binge drink. Around 50 per cent of young men in Great Britain exceeded the recommended number of daily units on their heaviest drinking day in 2001, compared with around 40 per cent of women. Among students, there was no difference between the sexes, with around a third of men and women exceeding the recommended levels.
Prevalence of adult cigarette smoking, GB
The proportion of men and women who smoke has fallen greatly in the last thirty years or so. In 1974, 51 per cent of men and 41 per cent of women in Great Britain reported that they were regular cigarette smokers. The gap has narrowed so that by 2001 the proportions had fallen to 28 per cent of men and 26 per cent of women. Falls were greater among older age groups.
Young men are more likely than young women to take drugs. Cannabis is the most commonly used drug in England and Wales. In 2001, around a third of men and a fifth of women aged 16 to 24 had used the drug in the last year. Class A drugs (including heroin, cocaine and ecstasy) were used less frequently, but again men were far more likely to use these drugs than women (12 per cent of young men compared with 5 per cent of young women).
Sources:Health Survey for England, 2001, Department of Health; British Crime Survey, 2001/02, Home Office; General Household Survey, 2001/02, Office for National Statistics
Notes: Body Mass Index (BMI): the body mass index for people aged 16 and over standardises weight for height and is calculated as weight (kg)/height (m2). Underweight is defined as a BMI score of 20 or less, desirable between 20 to 25, overweight over 25 to 30 and obese as over 30.
Adult cigarette smoking: refers to those aged 16 and over. From 1988 data are for financial years. Data from 1998 are weighted to compensate for non-response and to match known population distributions.
Class ‘A’ drugs: include heroin, cocaine (both cocaine powder and 'crack'), ecstasy, magic mushrooms, LSD and unprescribed use of methadone.
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