Obesity By the Numbers

Obesity Demographics

• Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.⁶¹
• Approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million are obese (Body Mass Index or BMI > 30) and 9 million are extremely obese (Body Mass Index or BMI > 40)⁶².
• Currently, an estimated 65.2 percent of U.S. adults, age 20 years and older, and 15 percent of children and adolescents⁶⁴ are overweight and 30.5 percent are obese⁶³(childhood or pediatric obesity).
• Approximately 62 percent of female Americans are considered overweight⁶⁵.
• Approximately 67 percent of male Americans are considered overweight⁶⁶.
• An estimated 400,000 deaths per year may be attributable to poor diet and low physical activity⁶⁷
• It is estimated that 25-70 percent of the difference in weight between individuals is hereditary or genetic⁶⁸. However, it is important to remember that genetic predisposition only impacts an individual’s tendency towards obesity.
• Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that as many as 47 million Americans may exhibit a cluster of medical conditions (a “metabolic syndrome” or “Syndrome X”) characterized by insulin resistance and the presence of obesity, excessive abdominal fat, high blood sugar and triglycerides, high blood pressure (hypertension) and high cholesterol⁶⁹.