Did You Know? Adult Obesity Rates Rise in 28 States

Adult Obesity Rates Rise in 28 States: Adult obesity rates increased in 28 states in the past year, and declined only in the District of Columbia, according to a report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. More than two-thirds of states (38) have adult obesity rates above 25%. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20%. Adult obesity rates for African-Americans and Hispanics were higher than for whites in at least 40 states and the District of Columbia; 10-out-of-the-11 states with the highest rates of obesity were in the South, with Mississippi weighing in with the highest rates for all adults (33.8%) for the sixth year in a row; 35.3% of adults earning less than $15,000 per year were obese, compared with 24.5% of adults earning $50,000 or more per year.