Obesity levels are worse than previously thought after it emerged the Scottish Government published the wrong figures.

Sport Minister Shona Robison highlighted the clerical error which had missed out people classed as morbidly obese from the official tables.

The correction lifts the proportion of obese men aged over 16 from 26% to 27.7% for 2011.

For women over 16, the proportion changes from 23.5% to 27.6%.

Ms Robison drew attention to the mistake in a letter to Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw, who initially obtained the incomplete details.

Mr Carlaw said: "We thought these figures were bad enough when they were first published, so for the situation to worsen is extremely concerning. With 4% of women over 16 missed off these statistics, as well as nearly 2% of men, we are talking a difference of tens of thousands of people.

"I'm pleased Ms Robison has moved to correct this error publicly because it's essential we know the true picture.

"There is only so much the NHS can do when it comes to battling the bulge, and we need people to take responsibility for their own weight.

"If they don't, not only will they be causing problems for an overstretched NHS in the future but they will be making for themselves a lifetime of misery."

In her correction letter, Ms Robison wrote: "Within the Scottish Government there are robust procedures in place to ensure the accuracy of answers to parliamentary questions, but unfortunately on this occasion the error was not picked up.

"I apologise for the clerical error in the original answer and for any inconvenience caused."

The original figures missed out people with a body mass index of 40 or more.

Initial figures for people aged under 16 were correct when they were published in June. They showed just over 16% of boys aged two to four were classed as obese in 2011, up from the 10.4% estimated in 2008. Among girls of the same age, the proportion fell from 11.4% to 9.7% over the same period.

Separate figures showed obesity was mentioned 212 times on death certificates in 2011, up from 181 in 2007.

A recent report released also showed Scots women are the most likely to be obese during pregnancy in Europe.

The European Perinatal Health Report found Scotland had the highest proportions of overweight pregnant women, with obese women accounting for 20.7% of all expectant mothers.

The next worst country was Germany where 13.7% of mothers-to-be were obese. The best-performing country was Poland where 7.1% of pregnant women were obese.

Obesity during pregnancy increases the mother's risk of diabetes and pre-eclampsia, the condition that causes blood pressure to rise and increases the likelihood of premature birth.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The correction to the table in the parliamentary question was due to a drafting error. These are publicly available figures, taken from the Scottish Health Survey, that do not contain any new information.

"We recognise that obesity is a serious issue across Scotland and are taking concerted action to make our national diet healthier and help reduce Scotland's high levels of preventable diseases, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes."