Obesity Is Rising in the U.S.

Obesity is on the rise in the United States. According to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, four in ten American adults now have a body mass index at 30 or higher, classifying them as obese. This has climbed since the turn of the century, when it was approximately three in ten.

Children and adolescents aged 2-19 are also seeing rates surge, rising from 13.9 percent in 1999-2000 to a record 19.7 percent in 2017-2020*. The prevalence of obesity during 2017–March 2020 increased with age among children and adolescents. Where 12.7 percent of children aged 2-5 years were reported as obese in that time frame, the figure was 20.7 percent for 6 to 11-year-olds and 22.2 percent for 12 to 19-year-olds.

Obesity is proven to increase a person’s chances of heart disease, strokes, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. According to the CDC, when taking into account people who are overweight as well as obese, the share of U.S. adults age 20 and older rises to over 70 percent (2017-2018).

*According to the CDC, due to the 2019-2020 survey cycle only having partial data collection, results were combined with the 2017-2018 data to provide nationally representative estimates for these years.