Lifts are no longer big enough to fit the UK’s larger citizens, according to researchers.
A study of maximum capacity in elevators in the UK and mainland Europe found lifts have not kept up with increasing obesity levels, raising concerns about safety and equity.
The research, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Turkey, used photos of weight limits for 112 lifts manufactured between 1972 and 2024 in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Finland.
Prof Nick Finer, the president and chair of the International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organisation and lead author of the study, compared the average maximum weight allowance (total weight allowance divided by maximum passenger limits) with the average adult weight in the year the lift was manufactured.
The research found that despite adults’ continued growing weight, total lift limits have not increased since about 2004. In the mid-1970s, the average British man weighed 75kg and a woman 65kg, but that has swelled to 86kg and 73kg respectively.
Maximum allowances rose from about 62kg a person in 1972 to 75kg in 2002, broadly in line with average body weight increases during this time. But most lift manufacturers assumed average weight remained at 75kg, 4kg lighter than the average adult.
“What seems to have happened is there was a shift to manufacturers calculating the amount of room you take up on the floor [rather than weight],” said Finer. “But they assume the shape of a person is an oval rather than a circle. They have completely failed to recognise that if obesity is increasing then so is the amount of room you take up.”
Most lift manufacturers have assumed average weight has remained at 75kg. Photograph: Dmitriy Moroz/Alamy
Lifts that are too small caused potential safety issues, with designs based on “flawed calculations”, Finer said. “The ability to transport people up floors in a speedy time is impacted if you can only get half the number of people in the lift that you designed them for.”
Lifts could cut out, for example, if the passengers exceeded the total weight limits. “But perhaps even more important than that is the stigma that [people with obesity] may experience on entering lifts – a form of everyday weight discrimination.”
Finer added that “we need sadly, to super-size many of the things in life” to be suitable and safe for people living with obesity, as otherwise they would be excluded from society. “If we don’t recognise growing trends in obesity and body size then we’re really making it hard for those people to function in our society.”
Responding to the study’s findings, Jane DeVille-Almond, the president of the British Obesity Society, said: “We need to accept that society is unlikely to revert to sizes from 50 years ago, and start developing facilities for the 21st century.”
Louise Payne, a registered nutritionist, said: “It’s clear public spaces aren’t always designed with larger bodies in mind. This is not simply an issue of comfort, it’s about dignity, accessibility, and inclusion.
“Nobody should feel embarrassed, unsafe, or excluded when using public transport or accessing everyday services.”
