Obesity Facts

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has published some astonishing data about obesity in the United States.

• During 2017 to 2018 the obesity rate was 42.4% increasing from 30.5% in 1999-2000. Plus severe obesity increased during that same period from 4.7% to 9.2%.

• The estimated annual cost of obesity was $147 billion which is $1,429 higher than those who have normal BMI.

Some of the conditions that are associated with obesity include heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and some forms of cancer. 

Population Affected

It is interesting how obesity plays out among ethnicities.

• Non Hispanic blacks 49.6%

• Hispanics 44.8%

• Non Hispanic Whites 42.4%

• Non Hispanic Asians 17.4%

 In age groups it breaks down as:

• Ages 20 to 39 – 40%

• Ages 40 to 59 – 44.8%

• Ages 60 and older – 42.8%

 Looking at income and educational levels is multifaceted and breaks down differently by gender and ethnicity:

• Lower obesity was found in both men and women who had college degrees compared to those with less education.

• The same pattern was seen across ethnic backgrounds.

• In men the middle income group had the highest obesity rate compared to lower and higher income groups in non Hispanic white and Hispanics. In non Hispanic Black men obesity was more prevalent in the lowest income group.

• For women, obesity occurred less often in the highest income sector than middle and lower incomes. This was so for non Hispanic White, non Hispanic Asian and Hispanic women. But for non Hispanic Black women there was no apparent difference in obesity rates in any income level.

The World Health Organization (WHO) gives us the following information:

• In 2016 over 650 million adults were classified as having obesity:

  • Ages 5 to 19 – 340 million had overweight or obesity, a rise from 1% in 1975 to 4% in 1995 to 18% in 2016.

  • Ages 18 and over – 39% men and 40% women had overweight

  • Of the world population 11% of men and 15% of women have obesity

• In 2019 38 million children under age 5 had overweight or obesity

• Worldwide obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016.

The WHO indicates that while obesity had been a problem in countries where the population had a high income, the condition is now rising in low and middle income countries as well.  It is most prevalent in urban areas.  In Africa overweight children under the age of 5 has risen almost 24% since only 2000.  In 2019 almost half of the children under 5 who had overweight or obesity lived in Asia.

Heart disease and stroke, conditions that are associated with overweight and obesity, were the leading causes of death in 2012.  Some cancers, such as breast, ovarian, prostate, gallbladder, are associated with obesity.