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Eurostat Fat Report

February 21, 2007

The annual report from EU statistics department Eurostat has thrown up a few surprises. The most eye-opening statistic is the new shared interest German guys and British girls have in common: being fat.

https://p.dw.com/p/9tsU
German man seeks food-loving British lady for romantic candlelight suppersImage: picture-alliance/ dpa
The union of German men and British women would probably not be the first European match-making success to spring to mind when asked to imagine the continent's most compatible couples. The religiously trimmed Tracy may not be hairy Horst's cup of tea while Klaus and his allotment obsession may also not be what binge-drinking Brenda is looking for in her man.

Despite the stereotypes which would usually keep them apart, there could be some common ground where German guys and British gals could find themselves in a love match made in reinforced heaven.

Two fat Germans for every fat Brit

Dicke Männer
Ladies...How could you turn down these fine specimens?Image: picture alliance
According to new statistics from the EU's Eurostat department, Germany has the highest number of fat men in Europe while Britain has the most overweight ladies. However, the fat lads from the Fatherland would have to move fast to secure a date as competition for the super-size lovers from the island would be fierce.

The new report shows that 66.8 percent of men in Germany are overweight, with 18.8 percent of those hitting levels of obesity. That's almost twice as many as their prospective partners in the UK. The Eurostat figures show that 33.6 percent of English women are fat.

EU women keeping trim

Symboldbild Sexualität
Women in the EU are statistically slimmer than menImage: dpa ZB - Fotoreport
From the data, it seems that European women on the whole look after themselves a lot better than the men. "In all member states, the percentage of overweight men was higher than that of overweight women," the report states.

The statistics office uses the "body mass index (BMI)" to determine what being fat means. BMI is defined as the individual's body weight divided by the square of their height. When the BMI ranges between 25 and 29.9, then the person is overweight. When the BMI creeps over 30, then they're fat.