Obesity rates exceed 30% in nearly half of US states: CDC

By Maggie Hennessy

03-Sep-2014 - Last updated on 04-Sep-2014 at 21:10 GMT

Related tags: U.s. state

The number of adults with obesity in the US remained high last year, with estimates across states ranging from 21.3% in Colorado to 35.1% in both Mississippi and West Virginia, according to findings from the Centers for Disease Control’s Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity division.

The South had the highest prevalence of obesity* (30.2%), closely followed by the Midwest (30.1%), the Northeast (26.5%) and the West (24.9%), according to CDC’s data, which is based on the 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a self-reported phone survey.

Obesity prevalence was 30% or greater in 20 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia). Seven states (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Montana, Utah, and Vermont) and the District of Columbia, reported obesity rates ranging from 20 to 25%.

Combining data from 2011 through 2013, non-Hispanic blacks had the highest prevalence of self-reported obesity (37.6%), followed by Hispanics (30.6%), and non-Hispanic whites (26.6%).

Click HERE for more details.

*Adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or over.