SOUTH AFRICA may no longer have the chunkiest economy in Africa, now that Nigeria’s has been revalued upwards, but it still has the fattest people. This is evidence, to many South Africans, of the good life: fast food, a fast car, an urban lifestyle. Moreover, a chubby woman traditionally betokened health and beauty, whereas thinness smacked of disease. Among men, a big belly (a boep, in Afrikaans, the language of the country’s original Dutch settlers) is often thought to spell maturity, wealth and success. South Africa’s latest government is a portly crew, with many a ministerial suit bursting at the seams.

A recent global study published in the Lancet, a London-based medical journal, suggests that 70% of adult South African women and nearly 40% of men are overweight or obese. Even among children, a quarter of girls and a fifth of boys are too fat, and thus at greater risk of ill-health, from diabetes to heart disease. For years the government has been struggling to contain HIV/AIDS but now, some health experts are arguing, it should also concentrate on making people slimmer.

South Africa’s latest ailment could herald a dangerous trend across the rest of Africa and the poor world, where obesity is projected to increase dramatically in the next two decades, along with urbanisation and economic development. It is a paradox that in places where malnutrition in children is high, adults are increasingly likely to be overweight or obese, say researchers.

Most South Africans sound comfortable with their waistlines. A health-and-nutrition survey published by the country’s Human Sciences Research Council found that two-thirds of South African men and women reckoned that they ate and drank healthily, with no need to change their way of life. Indeed, 88% of 25,500 South Africans interviewed indicated that the body image they deemed ideal was, in fact, fat.

A notable exception is the health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi. A medical doctor, he has made a point of slimming through daily morning walks and a healthier diet. He challenged his government colleagues to do the same, so far to little effect. Earlier this month members of parliament complained that their canteen offered too much junk food. Members are “nice and slim” when they are elected, said Sheila Sithole, an ANC MP, but “they all go out obese.”