Is there a relation between a high Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the obesity rates of a country? Are prosperous countries with high GDP rates doomed to have an overweight population and all the health problems it entails?

Such are the questions posited in an article by Haley Sweetland Edwards, published last year in The Atlantic. That article, entitled “The Richest, Fattest Nation on Earth (It’s Not the United States)“, looked at the sovereign Arab state of Qatar, its riches, and its troubling obesity rates.

Qatar has the highest GDP per capita in the world. It is not a large country by any means, even when compared to Costa Rica. Qatar’s area is less than 12,000 square kilometers, whereas Costa Rica has 51,1000 km2; but, when it comes to GDP per capita, Qatar is a mighty giant. The purchasing power parity of a Qatari is $102, 943, while for a Tico that number is slightly less than $12,000.

In terms of obesity, however, Qatar surpasses not only Costa Rica, but also the United States and many other nations. A previous article in The Costa Rica Star cited statistics by the World Health Organization and La Caja: the combined percentage of obese and overweight adult Ticos is 62 percent. Ticas fare better at 60 percent.

According the International Obesity Task Force, Qatar has a problem. About half of Qatar’s adults tip the scales and can be considered obese, as well as a third of their children. Seventeen percent of Qataris are diabetics. The health news media usually tends to focus on obesity rates and projections in the United States, or at least use the North American nation as an international yardstick, and to that extent Qatar is leaving the U.S. behind.

Qatar has not just prospered in the last few years; it has skyrocketed into affluence. According to the article by Ms. Sweetland Edwards in The Atlantic, this meteoric rise to wealth has exacerbated the country’s rate of obesity due to the sedentary lifestyle it brings about. She interviewed a young man from Pakistan who was raised in Qatar, and who offered the following explanation:

“[In Qatar] we just sit, smoke, and eat junk food. There’s not too much work. Everything you have is automatic, and most of us just sit in air-conditioned offices and cars. Everything is done for us.”

The sweltering climate of Qatar, quite a few degrees higher than any temperature you’ll find in Costa Rica, does not make it easy for Qataris to engage in outdoor exercise, but even household chores like cooking, cleaning, landscaping, and even grocery shopping are being delegated to foreign domestic caretakers.

There are other cultural and genetic issues mentioned in The Atlantic article that are contributing to Qatar’s increasing obesity, but the prosperity and affluence aspect comes to mind as Costa Rica continues to develop. Some of the elements that are increasing the weight of Qataris can be observed here in our country. When we combine the rates of overweight and obese adults in Costa Rica and compare them to those of the United States, we are getting closer.

Costa Rica is still very far from achieving the per capita GDP rates of Qatar, and still our obesity rate is growing along with prosperity. Many Tico children live inactive lifestyles indoors, which might be the culprit of high rates of asthma among our young population. Car culture is also growing in Costa Rica, which tends to run parallel to obesity and prosperity.

Prosperity could lead to higher obesity in Costa Rica, but only if appropriate measures aren’t taken. Let’s look at The Netherlands, one of our friends and a prosperous country where in 2002 only about 10 percent of adults were obese. The always-innovative Dutch people keep a close eye on their school lunch programs, and they even encourage students to create lunches that are tasty, healthy and preferably sustainable. Bicycle culture and mass transportation trump car culture in The Netherlands, particularly in metropolitan areas.

The two Dutch factors mentioned above could prevent the rise of obesity in Costa Rica as she prospers. According to an article by Andrea Navarro in online newspaper Costa Rica Hoy, the Ministry of Health is closely monitoring the menus and ingredients used by school cafeterias, but mass public transportation is losing appeal among many Ticos who are more attracted to automobiles.