Author(s)

Akihiko Katayama, Nobuyuki Miyatake, Kanae Oda, Takeshi Saito, Shoko Murakami, Noriko Sakano

Department of Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Miki, Kagawa, Japan.

The link between income inequality and obesity inJapanwas evaluated. Income inequality of all 47 prefectures of Japan as expressed by Gini coefficient was obtained from National Statistics Center, Japan. The rate of obesity (%) was also obtained from National NutritionSurvey,Japan. The effect of income inequality on obesity was evaluated by ecological study. Income inequality as expressed by Gini coefficient was 0.31 ± 0.01 and the rate of obesity was 31.6% ± 5.6%. Gini coefficient was significantly and positively correlated with the rate of obesity (r = 0.490, p = 0.0005). Income inequality was might be associated with the rate of obesity inJapan. 

Income Inequality; Gini Coefficient; Obesity; Ecological Study; Japan

Katayama, A. , Miyatake, N. , Oda, K. , Saito, T. , Murakami, S. and Sakano, N. (2013) The relationship between income inequality and obesity in all 47 prefectures of Japan: Ecological study. Open Journal of Epidemiology, 3, 1-3. doi: 10.4236/ojepi.2013.31001.