The increase of obesity among male and females in Kuwait raised the number of shops specialized in selling 'plus size' clothes and shoes in the country.

Although these shops have been present here for years, their number has noticeably increased recently. A number of salespersons at such shops said their sales increased in the past few years as a result of the increase in the number of people suffering from obesity.

Ziyad Al-Abd, owner of a shop that sells plus size clothing, said that the field of selling clothes, like any other field, is affected by development and change.
In addition to the increase of shops that sell plus size products, many other ordinary shops provide special sections to sell such products.

Mohammad Karrar, another clothes dealer, said that obese people used to tailor clothes that fit them because large size clothes were not available. However, nowadays those people can shop like others and buy clothes of all styles, he added.

According to the latest statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), Kuwait is considered one of the countries with the highest rate of overweight people. Moreover, the 2009 human development report warned that obesity was among the greatest health challenges in Kuwait.

The organization's statistics show that in the end of 2008, there were about 1.3 billion obese people in the world, while around 800 million people suffered from thinness.

Many countries, especially the developed, suffer from high obesity rates. In the United States, two out of every three people are overweight or obese and in Australia about a quarter of the children are overweight or obese. Obesity rate in China reached about 15 percent of the population, which equals about 200 million people, in the past few years.

Kuwait Times