The world is growling that many female fashion models and many celebrities are too thin.

Not so in Asia.

Most of 25,000 people in 45 countries who responded to trend tracker The Nielsen Company said they felt the body size of women strutting the world’s catwalks and red carpets is too thin.

But consumers in Asia and emerging Eastern European markets are least likely to say that female fashion models are too thin.

“Geographically, the world fashion centres of Milan, London and New York are far from Asia and it’s simply not a hot social media issue in Asia,” said a Neilsen company spokesman.

 Compared to other regions, Asia still lags behind when it comes to making international fashion headlines in terms of high profile international designers and top models.

Vietnamese consumers (59%) are least likely to think that models are too thin, followed by 64 percent of Indians and 63 percent of Japanese.

In Eastern Europe, 65 percent of Lithuanians and 72 percent of Russians top the ‘not too thin’ rankings.

Overall an overwhelming 81 percent of online consumers agreed that female fashion models and celebrities are too thin.

The findings follow a worldwide outcry over the fashion industry’s promotion of the stick-thin images which critics say contribute to eating disorders in young women.

As a result of the death of two Latin American models, czars from the powerful fashion capitals of New York, London, Milan and Paris pledged recently to address the controversial issue of bringing more weight to the catwalks.

Nielsen found Latin American consumers were strongly against super-skinny models, with 91 percent of Argentinians and 89 percent of Brazilians supporting the notion that fashion models are too thin.

The online survey also found a link between perceptions of thinness among women and a country’s quality of life.

Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia were the fiercest critics of the fashion industry with as many as 94 percent of those polled believing models are too thin.

Those countries also consistently top global rankings for having the best quality of life. Australia and New Zealand also boast top models Elle Macpherson and Rachel Hunter who are famous for their healthy physiques.

These countries believe in the healthy concept of beauty and culturally also reject the super- skinny model type that follows fashion trends.

In the USA, the most recent battleground for this debate during New York Fashion Week, 87 percent of respondents said female fashion models are “too thin”. In France, where the Paris haute couture shows just took place, 88% of consumers say female fashion models are “too thin”.

In Canada, where “The ‘Health’ trend has educated the masses about leading a healthy life a whopping 90 per cent of respondents said the models on catwalks are too skinny and project a bad image.