Nearly 60 percent of all adults and a third of all children in the world will be overweight or obese by 2050 unless governments take action, says a new study.

The research published in the Lancet medical journal on Tuesday used data from 204 countries to paint a grim picture of what it described as one of the great health challenges of the century.

“The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure,” lead author Emmanuela Gakidou, from the United States-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), said in a statement.