USA: According to reports, the US Air Force has chosen to ease its recruiting difficulties by allowing fatter Americans to enlist in the military, potentially opening the door to millions of obese young people.

Male recruits will be permitted to carry up to 26% body fat under the new regulations, while female recruits will be limited to 36% body fat, according to Military.com, which cited US Air Force Recruiting Service spokeswoman Leslie Brown. Previously, the limits were 28% for women and 20% for men.

We are not lowering our standards, Brown emphasised emphatically. The Air Force is instead "aligning" its regulations with a Pentagon order from the previous year. According to that policy document, every service member must maintain the physical fitness and body composition necessary to carry out their duties effectively.

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Men who have a body fat percentage of 25 or more are considered obese by the American Council on Exercise. For women, the obese category starts at 32%. By allowing obese recruits, the Air Force will have access to a sizable pool of prospective new members. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, 39.8% of Americans between the ages of 20 and 39 are thought to be obese.

The US Army and Navy have attempted to address their recruitment issues by providing physical fitness preparatory courses, known in the Army's case as pre-boot camp, to give candidates who exceed body fat limits a chance to get in shape enough to enlist.

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According to the Air Force's estimates, the revised body fat limits will allow it to bring in an extra 50 to 100 new enlistees each month. To remain in the Air Force, the new hires will later be subject to regular fitness assessments, which will include a requirement for waist-to-height ratio.

According to 2017 Pentagon data, nearly 71% of the 34 million Americans who belong to Generation Z—those who were born after 1997—are ineligible for military service, most frequently due to obesity. Medical conditions, criminal histories, drug use, and a failure to obtain a high school diploma are a few additional frequent grounds for disqualification.

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Even after taking a number of measures to increase the number of enlistees, the Air Force estimates that it will fall short of its recruiting goal for this year by about 10%. For instance, it loosened regulations to permit recruits with tattoos on their hands and neck, and it started a programme to allow those who test positive for THC to retest. Student loan repayment bonuses worth up to $65,000 are part of the hiring bonuses.