Nutrition policy snapshots

We’ve analysed policies on nutrition and obesity in 30 European countries to see how well the policies are designed.

World Cancer Research Fund International has been analysing nutrition policies in 30 European countries as part of the CO-CREATE project – a EU-funded project involving young people to help reduce overweight and obesity among adolescents.

As part of this work, we have produced a snapshot of the policy landscape in each country, looking at what policies exist, and how well-designed they are.

The country snapshots supplement our new policy index, which examines the strengths and weaknesses of policy design and policy actions in the 30 European countries as a whole.

Read more about each country and download snapshots in English or national languages:

AustriaBelgiumBulgariaCroatia | Czech RepublicDenmarkEngland | EstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyLatviaLithuaniaMaltaNetherlands | Northern Ireland | NorwayPolandPortugalRomania | Scotland | SlovakiaSloveniaSpainSweden | Wales

> Download all 30 country snapshots as a bundle (zip, English)

NOURISHING – towards better nutrition policies

We call this the NOURISHING policy index because it is structured around the 10 policy areas of our NOURISHING framework and examines the policy design – ie, what a good policy looks like – in our NOURISHING database of nutrition policy.

Our research showed that 4 areas have mostly moderate policy design and action in all 30 countries:

  • nutrition labelling (mostly moderate)
  • standards for healthy foods in schools and other public settings (mostly moderate)
  • setting nutrient limits or targets for the improvement and reformulation of food products (mostly good)
  • policies to inform people on healthy eating (mostly good)

Policy areas consistently rated as poor or fair are:

  • restrictions on advertising and marketing of unhealthy foods to young people
  • nutrition education and skills eg in schools
  • nutrition counselling in healthcare settings

There is insufficient national government action in any of the European countries we looked at on:

  • using economic tools to address food affordability and purchase incentives
  • ensuring coherence between food supply chains and health
  • setting incentives and rules to create a healthy retail and food service environment

Downloads and translations

Visit our CO-CREATE library of resources to download the full profile for each country in the national language and in English, the NOURISHING and MOVING policy briefs, and much more.