Obesity Rate in America Over 42 Percent in 2020

The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new report in February 2020 with new statistics on the national obesity rate in America. Unfortunately, Americans are now more obese than ever, with 42.4% of adults considered obese. Obesity is generally defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above. Clearly, we have a true obesity epidemic in America. And things are getting worse every year. The latest report from the CDC was released in 2020 but used data gathered in 2017 and 2018, meaning that the current rate of obesity is likely higher than 42.4%. In the year 2000, obesity percentage in adults was 30.5%; in 2010 it was 35.7%. Thus, we could expect the next studies of obesity to report 44-45% of adults being obese in just a few years, approaching nearly 1 in 2 adults being not just overweight, but obese. You can see the steady increase in obesity from 2000 to 2018 in the chart below:

What’s the Definition of Obesity?

Obesity is typically defined by a person’s body-mass index (BMI). Body-mass index takes into account a person’s height and weight to provide a BMI number. For most organizations, a BMI of 30 or above is considered obese for adults. Here’s a chart with the example of a person who is 5’9”, where obese would be 203 pounds or higher.

Where Does the US Rank in Obesity Now?

As of 2016, the United States ranked number twelve in adult obesity rate among all countries, according to the CIA World Factbook. The countries ranking above the US are primarily tiny island nations with very small populations, such as the Cook Islands, Tonga, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Tuvalu. So among large, industrialized countries, America stands out as the nation with the highest rate of obesity. We are #1 - but not in a good way.

Do Genes Cause Obesity?

Some people believe that there is an ‘obesity gene’ or that they are destined to be overweight or obese. However, the truth is that there are no genes that guarantee that you, or someone you know, will be obese. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “Genetic changes in human populations occur too slowly to be responsible for the obesity epidemic.” In other words, it’s unlikely that your genetics are causing you to be obese. If there were genes for obesity, we would have had lots of obese people throughout human history. But that’s just not the case. The rate of obesity in America has been increasing dramatically, not incrementally, over the past fifty years, indicating a variety of environmental factors leading to the rapid increase of obesity, rather than a genetic factor. We also know from anecdotal evidence that obesity was very rare before 1970 - my grandpa, for example, was born in 1936, and remembers only a few people in his high school being very overweight.