WASHINGTON: People are getting fatter in all parts of the world, with the possible exception of East Asia, doctors found in a one-day global snapshot of obesity.

Overall, 24% of men and 27% of women seeing their doctors that day were obese, and another 30% of men and 40% of women were overweight, the researchers found.

That puts the rest of the world close to par with the US, long considered the country with the worst weight problem. An estimated two-thirds of Americans are overweight and a third of these are obese.

"The study results show that excess body weight is pandemic, with one-half to two-thirds of the overall study population being overweight or obese," said Beverley Balkau, director of research at the French National health research institute INSERM in Villejuif, who led the study published in the journal Circulation. People who are overweight have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer. Balkau and colleagues evaluated 168,159 adults who happened to be seeing their primary care doctors in 63 countries across five continents - but not the US - in 2006.

In all regions except southern and eastern Asia, 60% of men and 50% of women were either overweight or obese, they found. This was measured using body mass index, or BMI, which calculates height to weight and is considered an accurate way of assessing overweight in most adults except highly muscled athletes. A BMI of 18-24 is considered healthy. People with BMIs of 25 to 30 are overweight and anyone with a BMI of 30 or more is obese.

Just 7% of people in eastern Asia were obese, compared to 36% seeing doctors in Canada, 38% of women in Middle Eastern countries and 40% in South Africa. Canada and South Africa led in the percentage of overweight people, with an average BMI of 29 among both men and women in Canada and 29 among the South African women.