Percent of U.S. Adults Who Were Overweight and Percent Who Were Obese: 1997 statistics

[Percent who are overweight includes those who are obese and represent those who have a body mass index (BMI) equal to or above 25. Percent who are obese represent those who have a BMI equal to or above 30. BMI is a measure that adjusts body weight for height. It is calculated as weight in kilograms divdied by height in meters squared. These estimates are based on definitions provided in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Based on the National Health Interview Survey; for details, see Appendix III]


Characteristic	Overweight	Obese

Both sexes
All ages (age-adjusted) ¹	54.3	19.1
All ages (unadjusted) ¹	54.1	19.0

18-24 years old	37.4	13.0
25-44 years old	53.3	18.7
45-64 years old	62.7	23.8
65 years old and over	54.5	16.5

Hispanic	61.0	20.5
White, Non-Hispanic	52.6	18.0
Black, Non-Hispanic	64.4	28.6
Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic	29.8	6.0

Men
All ages (age-adjusted) ¹	62.3	18.8
All ages (unadjusted) ¹	62.2	18.9

18-24 years old	41.5	13.9
25-44 years old	63.7	19.2
45-64 years old	70.7	23.0
65 years old and over	59.8	14.4

Hispanic	64.7	19.5
White, Non-Hispanic	62.4	18.6
Black, Non-Hispanic	64.1	22.7
Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic	35.2	5.8

Women
All ages (age-adjusted) ¹	46.6	19.3
All ages (unadjusted) ¹	46.4	19.2

18-24 years old	33.3	12.1
25-44 years old	42.9	18.2
45-64 years old	55.0	24.6
65 years old and over	50.5	18.0

Hispanic	56.8	21.2
White, Non-Hispanic	43.0	17.3
Black, Non-Hispanic	64.5	33.2
Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic	25.2	5.9

Education:

Both sexes
Fewer than 9 grades	61.8	24.1
Grades 9 - 11	59.0	24.3
GED	60.1	23.8
High school graduate	56.6	20.8
Some college - no degree	54.9	19.1
Associate of Arts - Technical	56.6	20.3
Associate of Arts - Academic	55.2	18.8
Bachelor of Arts or Science	46.8	12.9
Graduate degree (MA, PhD, MD, etc.)	42.5	10.5

Men
Fewer than 9 grades	62.7	21.7
Grades 9 - 11	61.1	21.7
GED	61.8	23.3
High school graduate	65.1	20.8
Some college - no degree	65.8	19.7
Associate of Arts - Technical	66.6	21.5
Associate of Arts - Academic	69.0	19.7
Bachelor of Arts or Science	57.6	14.1
Graduate degree (MA, PhD, MD, etc.)	53.7	11.0

Women
Fewer than 9 grades	60.6	26.6
Grades 9 - 11	57.2	26.4
GED	58.1	24.1
High school graduate	49.1	20.7
Some college - no degree	44.7	18.5
Associate of Arts - Technical	47.9	19.4
Associate of Arts - Academic	45.3	17.9
Bachelor of Arts or Science	35.9	11.8
Graduate degree (MA, PhD, MD, etc.)	29.2	10.0

1 Age-specific rates are unadjusted; all other estimates were adjusted to the 2000 projected population.

Source: U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, Percent of U.S. adults who were overweight (including obese) (BMI >= 25) and percent who were obese (BMI >= 30), by selected characteristics, 1997; ; (accessed: 2 May 2000).

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/231_percent_of_u_s_adults_who.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

Copyright © 2006 Photius Coutsoukis and Information Technology Associates, all rights reserved.