?Worldwide, there are a variety of public health agencies and organizations that currently monitor and research the epidemic of obesity and related diseases. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the nation’s lead agency working to prevent and control obesity. The CDC compiles annual statistics on obesity trends among adults, children and adolescents in the United States and has also provided an annual state-by-state breakdown of the economic impact of obesity on the U.S. health care system since 1985.
Unfortunately, since the CDC started gathering records in1985, the data shows that the U.S. has seen a steady trend toward more obesity in the population, instead of less. The CDC’s latest report on National Obesity Trends covering 2010 is not much of a shining report card either. According to the 2010 numbers, about one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are currently obese and approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents between the ages of 2 and 19 years are also currently obese.
The statistics are not just poor, they’re shocking and show that for the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States and the rates still remain high today. CDC studies of obesity prevalence from 2008 showed that the state counties with the highest levels of obesity, diabetes and physical inactivity were concentrated in the Southern and Appalachian states, while the U.S. counties that showed the lowest levels of all three conditions were primarily concentrated in the Northeastern and Western states. The latest CDC numbers for 2010 show that no single state in the nation can claim an obesity level of less than 20%. Thirty-six states currently have obesity levels of 25% or more; and 12 of them (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia) have obesity levels of 30% or more.
The CDC data on County-Specific Obesity, Diabetes, and Physical Inactivity Prevalence was collected through the agency’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System on the basis of self-reported weight and height statistics for 2010. The CDC’s state-by-state numbers for the percent of obese U.S. adults with a Body Mass Index BMI greater than 30 are listed alphabetically in the table below.
2010 State Obesity Rates
Alabama 32.2 %
Alaska 24.5 %
Arizona 24.3 %
Arkansas 30.1 %
Colorado 21.0 %
Connecticut 22.5 %
Delaware 28.0 %
District of Columbia 22.2 %
Florida 26.6 %
Georgia 29.6 %
Hawaii 22.7 %
Idaho 26.5 %
Illinois 28.2 %
Indiana 29.6 %
Iowa 28.4 %
Kansas 29.4 %
Kentucky 31.3 %
Louisiana 31.0 %
Maine 26.8 %
Maryland 27.1 %
Massachusetts 23.0 %
Michigan 30.9 %
Minnesota 24.8 %
Mississippi 34.0 %
Missouri 30.5 %
Montana 23.0 %
Nebraska 26.9 %
Nevada 22.4 %
New Hampshire 25.0 %
New Jersey 23.8 %
New Mexico 25.1 %
New York 23.9 %
North Carolina 27.8 %
North Dakota 27.2 %
Ohio 29.2 %
Oklahoma 30.4 %
Oregon 26.8 %
Pennsylvania 28.6 %
Rhode Island 25.5 %
South Carolina 31.5 %
South Dakota 27.3 %
Tennessee 30.8 %
Texas 31.0 %
Utah 22.5 %
Vermont 23.2 %
Virginia 26.0 %
Washington 25.5 %
West Virginia 32.5 %
Wisconsin 26.3 %
Wyoming 25.1 %