Can a country become rich without growing? This is the question to a million dollars, the co-founder of Zerodha, Nikhil Kamath, shot X.
In a world where growing economies are suitable for, Japan is the only rich nation that has managed to stay thin. So what gives? And can the others follow the plunge-or are the bulging tours simply part of the agreement when the nations increased their GDP?
Kamath in his post shared the hard truth: the rich countries are large – and the poor countries are not. Obesity rates in nations rich on average 55%, while the poor oscillate approximately 22%. But Japan? With an obesity rate of 5.6%, they fell in love with the code – and autonomous among the best world savings.
The contrast is amazing. Luxembourg, with a per capita GDP of $ 126,598, weighs 18.9% of obesity. Norway is not far behind – $ 108,439 per inhabitant and 19.5% obesity.
Switzerland has an obesity of 12.5% out of $ 94,799 of GDP per capita. Even Singapore ultra-effective cannot avoid crawling sizes, with 14% obesity and $ 88,429 of GDP per capita. But the real jaw? The United States, where a GDP of $ 77,980 is accompanied by an obesity rate of 42.7% – almost half of the population.
So how does Japan stay outside the Fat Club? To start, they eat differently – very differently. The Japanese diet is heavy on fish, vegetables and fermented and light foods on dairy products, butter and meat.
The sizes of portions are small and their culture promotes “Hara Hachi bu” – stopping when you are full of 80%. Good luck to find junk food: processed foods are barely place in supermarkets and schools prohibit them.
It doesn’t stop at food. Japanese cities are built for movements – walking and cycling are part of daily life, and they have a law – the Metabo law – which literally obliges companies to measure the size of employees each year.
Meanwhile, countries like India, with GDP per capita, classified 146th and an obesity rate of 7.51%, are looking at and wondering: can we become richer without growing up or is Japan just a single-off?
