Obesity in US and Mexico Leading to Quality Bariatrics Options

Posted on 5 September 2011 by Josef Woodman

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Factbook 2010 via Google Public Data.

According to data from the OECD 2010 Fact Book, Mexico is the second most obese nation in the world, just trailing — you guessed it — the United States. This fact may have interesting implications for medical travel market between the two countries.

In calculating obesity rates, the Fact Book does not include any one below the age of 15 and defines obesity as anyone with a BMI greater than 30. As of 2007 the OECD obesity rate for Mexico was 30% among a population of 73 million over the age of 15. This translates to some 22 million obese Mexican residents in 2007. Similar calculations show that the number of obese Americans in 2007 was about 81 million (34% of an over-15 population of 240 million). This puts the total number of obese between Mexico and America in 2007 over 100 million — a number that has likely grown since 2007.

Mexico’s 22 million obese suggests that there is significant domestic demand for weight loss procedures. This could have several interesting implications for the medical tourism industry.

• Basic economics tells us that increases in demand usually drive increases in prices — more domestic demand and higher prices for weight loss procedures in Mexico would probably make medical tourism for these procedures less attractive.
• But this domestic demand is likely to drive supply as well — specifically Mexico is likely to see more clinics specializing in weigh loss procedures. This specialization is likely to bring more sophisticated technology, more expertise, and more experience. All of these factors work to decrease the chance of post-surgery complications, which is one of the biggest problems that medical tourists confront.
• This specialization may eventually drive down prices for weight loss procedures as well as clinics find ways to make their operation more efficient.

Many of these implications will depend on the details of Mexico’s domestic market. Per captia income in Mexico have fallen sharply (almost 20%) since 2008. But it is also important to consider that this is an unprecedented epidemic for both the United States and for Mexico — it is hard to predict how consumers and policy-makers will respond to increasing health issues and morbidity that stems directly from obesity. Low cost weight loss procedures will likely be an increasingly attractive option for this large and expensive problem.