The line graph illustrates the percentage of children classed as obese in the United States, Mexico and Japan between 1990 and 2020.
Overall, childhood obesity increased in the United States and, even more markedly, in Mexico, whereas Japan's rate stayed low and almost unchanged. By 2020 Mexico had caught up with the United States.
The United States began with the highest rate, at 11% in 1990. This climbed steadily to 15% in 2000 and 18% in 2010, and then levelled off, edging up to 19% in 2015 and remaining there in 2020. Mexico started from a lower base of 5% but grew faster, rising to 9% in 2000, 15% in 2010 and 17% in 2015. In 2020 it reached 19%, exactly the same as the American figure.
Japan's rate was far lower and much steadier than those of the other two countries. It rose slightly from 4% in 1990 to 6% in 2005 and 2010, but then fell back to 5% in both 2015 and 2020. Throughout the thirty-year period it never exceeded 6%, which was less than a third of the level recorded in the other two countries in 2020.