Obesity in...Denmark?

Obesity in… Denmark?

By Sarah Caccese

As obesity rates skyrocket globally, it is virtually impossible to find a country that isn’t fighting the struggle against the deadly fatty acids. With fast food chains multiplying and many cultures veering into an age of technology, over salted diets and inactive lifestyles lead to a deadly imbalance. It isn’t uncommon for obesity rates within a country to hover within 10 to 30 percent of the entire population, while anywhere from 40 to 70 percent are merely overweight (Rampell, 2010). With such high rates, healthy lifestyles completed with a balanced diet and regular exercise are becoming further and further from the norm, as shorter life expectancies, surpluses of diseases and immobility consume the population.

In countries such as Denmark, government officials are beginning to take a stand against the unhealthy lifestyles of citizens in a manner that receives a surplus of benefits—an excise tax. While Denmark is not nearly the “fattest” country, only containing an obesity rate around 9 percent in 2011, health officials fear of the deadly consequences of consuming “high levels of fat, salt and sugar” (Bittman, 2011).  Within Denmark’s mixed economy, government officials have developed, proposed, and successfully passed an excise tax—a tax upon a good making it more expensive for the consumer, hopefully forcing the demand to decrease. According to New York times, this “tax was approved in a vote that ran about 90 percent in favor, and instituted at a rate of 16 Kroner (just under $3) per kilo, which will mean a half-pound of butter will rise in cost by about 15 cents” (Bittman, 2011). Similar to saturated fats, the country also enforces an excise tax on other elastic goods—goods that will decrease in demand as the price increases—such as “tobacco, sugar, [and] alcohol” (Bittman, 2011).

In theory this excise tax will provide two main benefits for Denmark—a healthier population and an increase in revenue. Inevitably decreasing the saturated fat consumption will help with the “prevention of lifestyle diseases” (Bittman, 2011) overall hoping to provide long term benefits for all citizens. In addition, according to New York Times, for citizens to“[see] the strategy as health-related rather than simply income-generating will allow [the] government to both increase its rate and expand it to more unhealthy foods” (Bittman, 2011). In other words, government officials could expand the excise tax upon more unhealthy goods—goods high in sugar and salt—in order to decrease the supplyand use the surplus of money to provide subsidies—money from the government towards a specific good—for healthier alternatives, in order to increase the supply of healthy options for the Danish population.

Although it may seem this excise tax could only aid in decreasing the obesity rate within the country, ultimately the plan has a few downsides. While Denmark enforces this excise tax, that doesn’t necessarily mean the neighboring countries do. Because Denmark is so small, it is very easy for someone to cross the border in order to fulfill their saturated fat fix. In addition, some of Denmark’s goods are imported causing their contents to not be specifically labeled or documented at a reliable level. 

Overall, through an excise tax upon foods containing saturated fats, Denmark works to decrease their obesity rate. For an exclusive interview on the issue with a Danish news reporter click the link: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=141014592&m=141014496

Works Cited

Bittman, M. (2011, October 4). How About a Little Danish? New York Times.<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/how-about-a-little-danish/?_php=true&_type=blogs&action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3DHomepage%26t%3Dqry590%23%2FHow+About+a+Little+Danish%3F&_r=0>

Rampell, C. (2010, September 23). The World is Fat. New York Times.<http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/the-world-is-fat/?action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26contentCollection%3DOpinion%26region%3DTopBar%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26pgtype%3DBlogs%23%2FThe+World+is+Fat>

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