Globally, obesity is likely now more prevalent among school-aged children and adolescents than being underweight, according to a UNICEF report which blames the ubiquitous marketing of junk food.

The UN children's agency based its estimates on data from 2000-2022 compiled by academics in countries around the world, who first predicted in 2017 that this "tipping point" would be reached in the coming years.

UNICEF used the data to project what has happened since 2022, based on trends since 2010.

One-third of Australians aged five to 19 have a body-mass index within the obese or overweight range, the report said.

In some Pacific Island countries like Niue and the Cook Islands, the worst-affected globally, nearly 40 per cent of five-to-19-year-olds have obesity.

It found that one in 10, or

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