CDC: 34% of US Adults, 73 Million People, Are Obese

Southern states remain among the most obese, suggests a CDC survey released July 19. Twelve states had obesity rates of 30% or higher in 2010, according to the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System, a phone survey of 400,000 U.S. adults. No state reported an obesity rate lower than 20%. In 2000, no state had an obesity rate above 25%. Among Southern states, the obesity rate was 29.4%. In the Midwest, the rate was 28.7% and the Northeast had a rate of 24.9%. The West had the lowest rate, 24.1%. The most obese state in the nation was Mississippi, with 34% of adults considered obese, while the state with the lowest rate of obesity was Colorado, at 21%. More than half of all states reported a decline from 2009, but the drop was often very small, sometimes less than a percentage point. A person is considered obese if he or she is roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight. CDC