Being overweight, including pre‑obesity and obesity, is a major risk factor for various non-communicable diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers (OECD, 2019[28]). Overweight‑related diseases are expected to cause life expectancy to decrease by 2.7 years on average in OECD countries over the next 30 years; they are also expected to give rise to treatment costs equivalent to 8.4% of health spending (OECD, 2019[28]). High consumption of calorie‑dense food, trans-fats and saturated fats, and increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to growing global obesity rates. High body mass index was estimated to cause 5 million deaths worldwide in 2019 (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2020[36]). In addition, obesity puts people at increased risk of developing severe COVID‑19 symptoms and of dying from COVID‑19 (Katz, 2021[37]; Tartof et al., 2020[38]). Beyond health and medical conditions, obesity has wider social and economic impacts. Women and men with lower incomes are more likely to be obese, entrenching inequality. Individuals with at least one chronic disease associated with overweight are less likely to be employed; when they are at work, they are more likely to be absent or less productive than healthy individuals (OECD, 2019[28]).