Table 2 Summary of the main results from literature according to the specific aims of this study

Body image and weight perception: general tendency and differences among samples living in the same area or country

North Africa

• General misperception of body weight and preference for normal weight or slightly overweight body silhouettes [17, 23, 24, 27–33]

• Underestimation of body weight and preference for overweigh/obesity in rural populations [27, 28, 30]; preference for thinner body [24, 33] and dissatisfaction [24, 33] in urban or peri-urban populations.

Central Africa

• General preference for normal- slightly overweight body size and a rather low level of dissatisfaction with their body in rural and urban populations [4, 33, 39–43];

• Gambia: preference for overweight among oldest people and for slightly slimmer body among younger. Older Gambians were the most dissatisfied [40].

• Senegal: preference for a little slimmer figures than actual ones [41].

• Ghana: low level of dissatisfaction and preference for normal weight or overweight body size both in rural and urban area [4, 33, 39]

Southern Africa

• Preference for normal weight figures and great body discrepancy in urban residents [2, 33, 34]; preference for overweight body shape in rural inhabitants [2, 25, 26].

Body image and weight perception: differences between women and men according to area and country

North Africa

• Morocco: weight underestimation in both Amazigh men and women (High Moroccan Atlas) and wish to gain weight [30];

• Egypt: higher level of satisfaction and less body image concern in male students compared to females [31, 32].

Central Africa

• Gambia: less dissatisfaction and preference for bigger body shape in men than in women [40];

• Nigeria: similar preferences in body shape among men and women, but higher dissatisfaction in men [42];

• Kenya: overestimation of body size in normal weight men and underestimation in women living in slums in Nairobi. Unlike men, women had low levels of dissatisfaction with a preference for normal body size [43].

Southern Africa

• South Africa: similar level of satisfaction in males and females [35].

Interaction between weight status and body image perception according to area and country

North Africa

• Morocco: underestimation of body weight and consequent preference for fatter body [25, 27, 28, 30].

• Tunisia: awareness of body weight and preference for a thinner body [17, 24, 33].

• Egypt: good awareness of their body weight and high level of dissatisfaction [31, 32]

Central Africa

• Ghana: misperception of weight status (obesity) in women [33, 39].

• Nigeria and Gabon: low levels of FID and a normal BMI. Residents had good perception of their body and a preference for normal body size [33, 42]

• Kenya: residents of Nairobi slums were, on average, in normal weight with a differently-oriented misperception in men and women [43].

Southern Africa

• South Africa: low level of body dissatisfaction in normal weight men and overestimation of body weight in women [35].

Comparison in body image and weight perception of African immigrants in Europe with residents in the original country

North Africa

• Moroccan female immigrants in the Netherlands: preference for thin and normal body size such as among the female residents in Morocco urban area. Many of them wished to lose weight [18, 22, 23].

• NA immigrant women in Italy: preference for thin silhouettes, as among Tunisian residents. The ideal silhouette was slightly heavier in Moroccan residents than in Tunisians and immigrants. Body image dissatisfaction was slightly higher in NA immigrants than in NA residents [24].

Central Africa

• No studies on CA immigrants in Europe are available.

Southern Africa

• Zimbabwean immigrants in the UK: they were highly dissatisfied and with a more negative body image perception than residents in Zimbabwe, with a preference for a thinner body size while women living in Zimbabwe preferred a heavier body [25]