What are the world's most expensive avoidable problems? The graphic below, drawn from a recent report on combatting obesity by consultancy McKinsey & Company, attempts to quantify the total economic cost of different human-created social burdens, such as smoking, obesity, armed violence and alcoholism. The graphic draws on data from the World Health Organization Global Burden of Disease database, which quantifies the number of productive years of human life lost due to early death and disease.

In the U.S., armed conflict ranks as having the highest economic impact, due mostly to America's substantial spending on the military. Obesity ranks second: The report estimates that obesity cost the U.S. $663 billion in 2012, equivalent to 4.1 percent of GDP. In France, Japan, Indonesia and the U.K., smoking is still the most expensive social problem. China is the only country in which outdoor air pollution tops the list, while armed violence is the biggest burden in Brazil and Morocco.

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