Rates of adult obesity are on the rise across the United States, according to a new Gallup-Healthways Well-Being study based on data gathered from 2008 to 2015.
The national obesity rate reached a new high of 28% in 2015, a statistical spike from 25.5% in 2008.
While rates remain lowest in the West (24.6%), obesity in each region across the country – including the Northeast (26.2%), South (29.9%), and Midwest (30%) – rose significantly.
“Fourteen states had statistically significant increases in their obesity rates from 2008 to 2015, while no state registered a statistically significant decline," reports Gallup. “Of the 18 states with obesity rates of at least 30.0%, all but one are located in the South or Midwest. Meanwhile, all 11 states with obesity rates below 25.0% are located in the Northeast or West."
“Since 2008, the obesity rate for the Midwest has increased by 3.2 percentage points, more than any other region," Gallup writes. "The South followed closely behind, with a 2.9-point increase. The Northeast and West have seen smaller, but still statistically significant, increases of 2.0 and 1.8 points, respectively.”
Only two states have an adult obesity rate below 20% – Hawaii (18.5%) and Colorado (19.8%).
The state with the highest obesity percentage is West Virginia (37%), followed by Mississippi (35.5%), Delaware (33.8%), Arkansas (33.5%) and Oklahoma (33.5%).
To put things into better perspective, approximately one in three adults are obese in Mississippi, Delaware, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Reasons vary as to the cause of these increases. What remains certain is that with increases in obesity come rising healthcare costs.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data are based on American adults’ self-reports of their height and weight, which were used to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI) scores. A person with a BMI of 30 or higher is classified as obese.