Statistics
Archived Statistics on Eating Disorders
Please Note: The following statistics have been compiled from specific research studies and papers as cited. These statistics may not be applicable to other groups. Click here to view our most recent statistics on Eating Disorders.
Eating Disorders & Disordered Eating
In a recent study, 27% of Ontario girls 12-18 years old were reported to be engaged in severely problematic food and weight behaviour.
Jones, Jennifer, M.; Bennett, Susan, Olmsted, Marion P., Lawson, Margaret L., and Rodin, Gary. Disordered eating attitudes and behaviours in teenaged girls: a school-based study. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2001;165(5) 547-52.
The death rate for eating disorders is high: it ranges between 18% (in 20-year studies) and 20% (in 30-year follow-up studies). In fact, the annual death rate associated with anorexia is more than 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all other causes combined for females between 15 and 24 years old.
Cavanaugh, Carolyn. What we know about eating disorders: facts and statistics. In Lemberg, Raymond and Cohn, Leigh (Eds) (1999). Eating Disorders: A reference sourcebook. Oryx Press. Phoenix, AZ.
The American Psychiatric Association Work Group on Eating Disorders estimates that some 8% of women suffer from either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.
American Psychiatric Association Work Group on Eating Disorders. (2000). Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with eating disorders (revision). American Journal of Psychiatry; 157 (1 Suppl): 1-39.
Eating disorders are now the third most common chronic illness in adolescent girls.
Adolescent Medicine Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society. Eating Disorders in adolescents: principles of diagnosis and treatment. Paediatrics and Child Health 1998; 3(3) 189-92. Reaffirmed January 2001.
The death rate associated with anorexia nervosa alone is more than 12 times higher than the overall death rate among young women in the general population.
Sullivan PF. Mortality in anorexia nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1995; 152(7): 1073-4.
While the most common age of onset is between 14 and 25 years of age, eating disorders occur in a wide range of ages, and are increasingly seen in children as young as 10.
Cavanaugh, Carolyn J. and Lemberg, Ray. What we know about eating disorders: facts and statistics. In Lemberg, Raymond and Cohn, Leigh (Eds) (1999). Eating Disorders: A reference sourcebook. Oryx. Press. Phoenix, AZ.
It is estimated that 3% of women will be affected by eating disorders in their lifetime.
Zhu AJ, Walsh BT. Pharmacologic treatment of eating disorders. Can J Psychiatry 2002; 47:3227-34.
Among female athletes, the prevalence of eating disorders is reported to be between 15% and 62%.
Costin, Carolyn. (1999) The Eating Disorder Source Book: A comprehensive guide to the causes, treatment, and prevention of eating disorders. 2nd edition. Lowell House: Los Angeles.
Dieting & the Fear of Fat - Children & Adolescents
37% of Canadian females age 11, 42% of Canadian females age 13 and 48% of Canadian females age 15 say they need to lose weight.
Health and Welfare Canada. The health of Canada's youth, views and behaviours of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds from 11 countries. (1992). Anonymous. Ottawa ON: Minister of Supply and Services. H39-239/1993.
47% of Canadian females age 11, 58% of Canadian females age 13, and 55% of Canadian females age 15 say they would change how they look if they could.
Health and Welfare Canada. The health of Canada's youth, views and behaviours of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds from 11 countries. (1992). Anonymous. Ottawa ON: Minister of Supply and Services. H39-239/1993.
50% of girls with healthy weights in two Canadian high schools were dieting because they saw themselves as "overweight".
(CMAJ, 1986).
81% of 10-year-olds restrict eating (diet). At least 46% of 9-year-olds restricted eating.
Mellin, Scully and Irwin, Paper presented at American Dietetic Assoc. Annual Meeting, October 1986. (Berkley study)
52% of girls begin dieting before age 14.
Johnson, et al, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1984, 13.
71% of adolescent girls want to be thinner despite only a small proportion being over a healthy weight.
Paxton et al (1991). Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20, 361-379.
The fear of being fat is so overwhelming that young girls have indicated in surveys that they are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents.
Lisa Berzins, Dying to be thin: the prevention of eating disorders and the role of federal policy. APA co-sponsored congressional briefing. USA. 11/1997.
Health Canada found that almost one in every two girls and almost one in every five boys of grade 10 either were on a diet or wanted to lose weight.
Trends in the Health of Canadian Youth. A report based on the data collected through the 1989/90, 1993/94 and 1997/98 survey cycles for the World Health Organization Cross-National Collaborative Study: Health Behaviours in School-Age Children (HBSC). The trend comparisons report on data collected from among 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds in Canada. This report includes data from a selection of other countries as well as data from grade 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 students in Canada. The report can be found at the following website: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/dca-dea/7-18yrs-ans/index_e.html
Adults & Parents
A survey of parents found that one in 10 would abort a child if they knew it had a genetic tendency to be fat.
Fraser, Laura. (1997). Losing it: America's obsession with weight and the industry that feeds on it. Dutton Press. New York.
70% of women are dieting and 40% are continually gaining and losing weight.
A report on the behaviour and attitudes of Canadians with respect to weight consciousness and weight control. The Canadian Gallup Poll, Ltd. June 1984.
80%-90% of women dislike the size and shape of their bodies.
Hutchison, Marcia. (1985). Transforming Body Image. The Crossing Press, New York.
Glamour magazine's 1983 Body Image survey showed that 76% of correspondents considered themselves "too fat", including 45% of those classified underweight according to 1959 weight tables.
Wooley, S.C. & Wooley, O.W. (1985). Intensive outpatient and residential treatment for bulimia. In Handbook for Psychotherapy for Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia., eds. Garner, D.M. & Garfinkel, P.E. The Guilford Press, New York. p. 392.
Of women between the ages of 24 and 54 who diet, 76% diet for cosmetic rather than health reasons.
Thompson, D.M., et al. (1985). Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia: The Socio-cultural Context. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 1 (3), 20-36.
In 1984 alone, 66% of active women surveyed ranked weight control as the most important motivator for exercising.
A report on the behaviour and attitudes of Canadians with respect to weight consciousness and weight control. The Canadian Gallup Poll, Ltd. June 1984.
Diet Industry Profits
Excess of $32 billion sales posted by diet industry.
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth (1990).
U.S. News of the World Report (1990).
The Ottawa Citizen (1990) reported Canadian sales by diet centres of at least $300 million per annum.
Eater's Digest, 3, Summer 1992.
Weight Re-gain
95% of all dieters regain their lost weight within one to five years.
Grodstein F., Levine R., Troy L., Spencer T., Colditz G.A., Stampfer M.J. Three-year follow-up of participants in a commercial weight loss program. Can you keep it off? Arch Intern Med. 1996;156:1302-1306.
Several long-term follow-up studies have shown that the success rate of diets, over time, is dismal at best. In fact, it is estimated that approximately 95% of diets simply do not work over the long term.
Bennett, W.G. and Gurin, J. (1982). The Dieter's Dilemma: Eating Less and Weighing More. Basic Books, New York.
Studies show that 90%-95% of individuals who diet are unsuccessful in the long term.
For example: Bennett, William Ira. (1995) Beyond Overeating. The New England Journal of Medicine Vol. 332 (10) 673-674; Weinsier, R.L., et al. (2000) Do adaptive changes in metabolic rate favour weight gain in weight-reduced individuals? An examination of the set-point theory. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 72. 1088-1094.