The number of obese men is rising sharply in England, official figures show
 
The proportion of adults in England who are an unhealthy size has soared over the past 15 years with one in four now seriously overweight.

There have always been more obese women than men but the gap between the genders has now been cancelled out.

In addition, the number of overweight women has fallen in recent years while the number of morbidly obese men is rising sharply.

This comes as a new report by the Office for National Statistics uncovers wide discrepancies in men and women's health and working lives.

Health experts believe the narrowing obesity gap shows how schemes to tackle the country's weight problem are having less effect on men, with women more likely to go on diets or join a gym.

They warn that the country's obesity epidemic, caused by an increase in consumption of junk food and a decline in exercise levels, will lead to increased levels of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said: "Men are notoriously bad at looking after their health and women are much more motivated.”

The statistics show that the proportion of obese men rose from 13 per cent in 1993 to 24 per cent in 2006. The number of morbidly obese men has risen from 0.2 per cent of the male population to 1.5 per cent over the same period, while 43 per cent are now overweight.

By contrast, the proportion of obese women over 16 rose from 16 per cent in 2003 to 24 per cent in 2004 and fell by a fraction the following year. The number of overweight women has fallen from 34 per cent to 32 per cent since 2004.

The ONS's annual Focus on Gender report also showed the death rate from alcohol has doubled for men to 18.3 per 100,000 over the past 15 years, and risen from 5 to 8.8 for women.

Women can expect to live to 70.3 (and men to 67.9) but will spend their last six years in poor health, it is claimed.

The report also shows that the proportion of unmarried men and women living together has doubled between 1986 and 2006, with 13 per cent of those aged 16 to 59 now cohabiting.

Seven million people also live alone, two-thirds of them women.

Girls continue to outperform boys at all ages, from national tests for seven-year-olds to degree level, but men continue to earn more than women. The gender pay gap, now at its narrowest value since records began, now stands at 12.6 per cent.

The number of men and women in employment is now almost equal, with more than two-thirds of mothers now in work. However half of women are in part-time jobs compared with just one in six men.

英國的成人肥胖率在過去15年中大幅增長，目前有四分之一的成年人體重嚴重超標。

過去英國的女性肥胖者一直多于男性，不過現在這種性別差異已逐漸消失了。

而且近年來女性肥胖人數有所下降，而男性的過度肥胖人數卻急劇增長。

這些統計來自英國國家統計署發布的一項最新報告。該報告表明，英國的男性和女性在健康和工作方面存在很大差異。

健康專家認為，男女肥胖率差距的縮小表明，英國解決肥胖問題的措施對于男性沒起到太大作用，而女性則更經常地通過節食或加入健身俱樂部的方法來減肥。

健康專家發出警告，由過量食用垃圾食品和運動量減少而引起的肥胖流行病會增加人們患心臟病、糖尿病和癌癥的風險。

英國肥胖研究會的泰姆•弗萊說：“男人總是不在意自己的健康，而女人的健康意識則要強得多。”

統計數據顯示，從1993年到2006年，英國男性的肥胖率從13%上升至24%，過度肥胖比例從0.2%增長至1.5%；目前英國男性的體重超標率達到43%。

相反，英國16歲以上女性的肥胖率從2003年的16%增長到了2004年的24%，2005年有所下降。從2004年至今，女性體重超標率從34%下降到了32%。

此外，這項有關“性別差異”的年度報告顯示，男性過度飲酒的致死率在過去15年中翻了一番，每10萬人中有18.3人因此而死亡；而女性的這一數據僅從5人上升到了8.8人。

報告指出，英國女性的平均壽命為70.3歲（男性為67.9歲），不過她們在最后六年的健康狀況較差。

報告還指出，從1986年至2006年，英國未婚男女同居的比例增長了一倍，在16歲至59歲的人群中，有13%的人同居。

目前英國的單身人口達到700萬，其中女性占三分之二。

此外，對七歲至已獲學歷者各個年齡段人群開展的全國性測試結果表明，女孩在各個年齡段的表現都比男孩好，不過男性的收入還是比女性高。目前英國的工資性別差異創歷史最低紀錄，為12.6%。

如今，英國職業男女的數量基本相當，在已有孩子的女性中，有三分之二的人正在工作。不過女性中有一半的人選擇兼職，而男性的這一比例僅為六分之一。