Waist circumference, a measurement often used to tell if someone was overweight, should be less than 88 centimetres for women and 102 centimetres for men in order for the risk of cardiovascular diseases to stay low.

Hungarian women had an average waist circumference of 91 centimetres and men 98 centimetres last year, according to the data.

Young people generally fell into the “normal” territory of the measurements, but these jumped in the 35-64 age category, where women’s waist circumference was 11 centimetres bigger and men’s 13 centimetres bigger than the “normal” cut-off point.

The percentage of people with a thin or normal body shape has fallen from 45% to 35% since the late 1980s. The number of overweight adults doubled from 16% in 1988 by last year, the survey said.

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