Obesity statistics show that over 130 million adult Americans are considered overweight or obese. As this number has increased in the United States, so have the related healthcare costs. Obesity statistics show that the total cost is $117 billion, which includes things like physician visits, medication, and hospital care. Several health problems can occur due to obesity, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cancer.
Definitions Used for Obesity Statistics
Before we look at obesity statistics, it may be helpful to understand some of the terms and definitions used. For statistical purposes, the terms "overweight" and "obesity" are defined based on a person's
body mass index (
BMI). BMI is an indirect measure of a person's body fat and applies to everyone, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity. The BMI number is generated from a formula using a person's height and weight
(see BMI Calculator to calculate your BMI).
The interpretation of the BMI number differs between children and adults. For children and adolescents under the age of 20, a same-sex, age-based growth chart is used to identify weight status from the BMI number. The percentile indicates the relative position of the child's BMI number among children of the same sex and age.
BMI-for-age weight status categories and the corresponding percentiles are shown in the following table.
|
Weight Status Category
|
Percentile Range
|
|
Underweight
|
Less than the 5th percentile
|
|
Healthy weight
|
5th percentile up to the 85th percentile
|
|
At risk of overweight
|
85th to less than the 95th percentile
|
|
Overweight
|
Equal to or greater than the 95th percentile
|
Note: There is no generally accepted definition for obesity as distinct from overweight in children and adolescents.
For adults, once the BMI number is determined, it can be interpreted using standard weight status categories that are the same for all ages and for both men and women. The standard weight status categories associated with BMI ranges for adults are shown in the following table.
|
BMI
|
Weight Status
|
|
Below 18.5
|
Underweight
|
|
18.5 – 24.9
|
Normal
|
|
25.0 – 29.9
|
Overweight
|
|
30.0 and Above
|
Obese
|
BMI cutoff points are a guide for definitions of overweight and obesity, and are useful for comparative purposes across populations and over time. However, the health risks associated with overweight and obesity are on a continuum and do not necessarily correspond to rigid cutoff points. For example, an overweight individual with a BMI of 29 does not acquire additional health problems associated with obesity simply by crossing the BMI threshold of greater than or equal to 30. However, health risks generally increase with increasing BMI.
The obesity statistics discussed in the following sections are from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) unless otherwise noted. Also, in this article, the word "prevalence" is used when describing obesity statistics. Prevalence refers to the total number of existing cases of a disease or condition in a given population at a given time.
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