In 2023, Black adults had the highest obesity rates of any race or ethnicity in the United States, followed by American Indians/Alaska Natives and Hispanics. As of that time, around ** percent of all Black adults were obese. Asians/Pacific Islanders had by far the lowest obesity rates. Obesity in the United States Obesity is a present and growing problem in the United States. An astonishing ** percent of the adult population in the U.S. is now considered obese. Obesity rates can vary substantially by state, with around ** percent of the adult population in West Virginia reportedly obese, compared to ** percent of adults in Colorado. The states with the highest rates of obesity include West Virginia, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Diabetes Being overweight and obese can lead to a number of health problems, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Being overweight or obese is one of the most common causes of type 2 diabetes, a condition in which the body does not use insulin properly, causing blood sugar levels to rise. It is estimated that just over ***** percent of adults in the U.S. have been diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for ***** percent of all deaths.

About a fifth of Hispanic high school students in the United States were overweight between 2016 and 2017, making it the ethnic group with the highest percentage of overweight high school students. Female obesity rates were considerably higher than those of male students for the black and Hispanic groups during the measured period.

Overweight and obese U.S. adults

U.S. overweight rates in adults differed slightly from those of U.S. high school students in 2017. That year, the African American population had the highest overweight and obesity rates of any race or ethnicity, closely followed by American Indians/Alaska Natives and Hispanics. Over 73 percent of all African American adults in the country were either overweight or obese. In 2018, the highest rates of obesity among African Americans could be found in states, such as Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

Overweight youth worldwide

Many children and adolescents in other countries, such as New Zealand, Greece, and Italy, also struggle with overweight and obesity. In New Zealand, for example, over forty percent of boys and girls, up to age 19, were overweight or obese in 2016. In the same year, less than ten percent of Indian children and teenagers were overweight.

In 2022, over ** percent of both men and women in the United States reported themselves as obese (BMI over 30), making it the country with the highest percentage of obese adults on this list. Other selected countries on the list with a high prevalence of obesity among adults included the United Kingdom and Australia. Obesity groups in the United States In 2023, Black adults had the highest overweight and obesity rates of any race or ethnicity in the United States. Asians and Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders had the lowest rates by far, with roughly ** percent. In 2022, almost ** percent of people aged 65 and older were obese in the United States. This estimate has been steadily increasing since 2013 when roughly ** percent of elderly Americans were obese. Leading health problems worldwide Obesity was considered one of 2024’s biggest health problems: ** percent of adults worldwide stated that obesity was the biggest health issue for people within their country. Around ** percent of adults stated that mental health was the most significant problem facing their country that year.

📖 About Dataset

🌎 Overview

This dataset provides cleaned and structured information from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) conducted by the CDC. It focuses on nutrition, physical activity, and obesity trends across U.S. states and national averages from 2011 to 2023.

The data originates from the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) and has been pre-processed to remove missing values, redundant columns, and inconsistencies, making it ready for analysis.

📊 Contents

The dataset contains 29 columns and over 106,000 rows of observations, including:

• Year: Start and end years of data collection (2011–2023)
• Location: State abbreviation, state name, and geographic coordinates
• Class & Topic: High-level categories such as Obesity/Weight Status, Physical Activity, Fruits and Vegetables
• Question: Specific health behavior measured (e.g., % of adults with BMI ≥30)
• Data_Value: The main metric (percentage or proportion)
• Confidence Intervals: Statistical lower and upper bounds
• Sample Size: Number of participants
• Demographics: Age, sex, income, education, race/ethnicity

✅ Cleaning Process

• Removed fully empty columns (e.g., Total, Data_Value_Unit)
• Imputed missing numeric values using median replacement
• Categorical variables (Age, Sex, Education, Income, Race/Ethnicity) filled with Unknown
• Dropped non-essential ID columns (ClassID, TopicID, etc.) to simplify analysis
• Final dataset contains no missing values

🎯 Use Cases

This dataset is highly valuable for:

• Public Health Research: Tracking obesity and physical activity trends
• Policy Evaluation: Comparing state-level health initiatives
• Data Science & ML: Building predictive models on obesity & lifestyle behaviors
• Visualization Projects: Heatmaps, time series, and demographic comparisons

📌 Example Questions You Can Answer

• How have obesity rates changed from 2011–2023 across U.S. states?
• Which states report the highest vs lowest physical activity levels?
• What is the relationship between income, education, and obesity?
• How do dietary habits (fruit & vegetable intake) correlate with weight status?

📂 File Information

• File Name: Nutrition_Physical_Activity_Obesity_Clean.csv
• Rows: 106,260
• Columns: 29
• Format: CSV (comma-separated)

🏛 Source

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO)
• Original dataset: Data.gov – BRFSS Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity

💡 Citation

If you use this dataset in your work, please cite: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 2011–2023.

✨ This cleaned version was prepared for easy exploration, analysis, and machine learning applications on Kaggle.

This statistic depicts the obesity rate of children in the United States in 2015-2016 by ethnicity. In that time, 25.8 percent of Latino children in the United States were obese. Overweight and obesity can increase risk of developing many chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

West Virginia, Mississippi, and Arkansas are the U.S. states with the highest percentage of their population who are obese. The states with the lowest percentage of their population who are obese include Colorado, Hawaii, and Massachusetts. Obesity in the United States Obesity is a growing problem in many countries around the world, but the United States has the highest rate of obesity among all OECD countries. The prevalence of obesity in the United States has risen steadily over the previous two decades, with no signs of declining. Obesity in the U.S. is more common among women than men, and overweight and obesity rates are higher among African Americans than any other race or ethnicity. Causes and health impacts Obesity is most commonly the result of a combination of poor diet, overeating, physical inactivity, and a genetic susceptibility. Obesity is associated with various negative health impacts, including an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, certain types of cancer, and diabetes type 2. As of 2022, around 8.4 percent of the U.S. population had been diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes is currently the eighth leading cause of death in the United States.

This dataset includes data on adult's diet, physical activity, and weight status from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. This data is used for DNPAO's Data, Trends, and Maps database, which provides national and state specific data on obesity, nutrition, physical activity, and breastfeeding. I was particularly curious on whether socioeconomic status has an impact on obesity. In my analysis, I compare the obesity rate in each state, and then perform a linear regression on the obesity rate for each educational status and the income bracket.

In 2023, around ** percent of all adult Hispanics in Texas were obese. In the United States, processed foods are often cheaper than fresh foods, which can impact those with lower income and lead to more weight gain. This statistic depicts the obesity rates for adults in Texas in 2023, by race/ethnicity.

Data on overweight and obesity among adults aged 20 and over in the United States, by selected characteristics, including sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, and poverty level. Data are from Health, United States. SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Search, visualize, and download these and other estimates from a wide range of health topics with the NCHS Data Query System (DQS), available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/dataquery/index.htm.

Data on obesity among children and adolescents aged 2-19 years in the United States, by selected characteristics, including sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, and poverty level. Data are from Health, United States. SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Search, visualize, and download these and other estimates from a wide range of health topics with the NCHS Data Query System (DQS), available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/dataquery/index.htm.

This dataset provides an estimate of the percentage of adult respondents ages 18+ who had a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above by zip code as well as an estimate of the population ages 18+ residing in that zip code. The estimates covered are from the years 2013-2014. Information like this may be useful for studying obesity rates across zip codes of different demographics.Spatial Extent: Los Angeles Spatial Unit: Zip Code Created: 2018 Updated: n/a Source: California Health Interview SurveySurvey Contact Telephone: 310-794-0909 Contact Email: dacchpr@ucla.edu Source Link: https://askchisne.ucla.edu/ask/_layouts/ne/dashboard.aspx#/API Source Link: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=342a05f149004bb0ab43eb976682beba

Layers in this service includes: Birth, Cancer, Hospitalization Discharge, Mortality and STI Rates, as well as Demographics.

In 2022, the highest incidence of obesity-associated cancer in the United States was among Black individuals, with a rate of 184 per 100,000 people. This graph shows the rate of obesity-related cancers per 100,000 people in the United States in 2022, by race and ethnicity.

Layers in this service includes: Birth, Cancer, Hospitalization Discharge, Mortality and STI Rates, as well as Demographics.

Layers in this service includes: Birth, Cancer, Hospitalization Discharge, Mortality and STI Rates, as well as Demographics.

In 2024, almost ** percent of Black adults in Georgia were obese. Childhood obesity in the United States is also on the rise, with affected children more likely to remain obese as adults.

Descriptive statistics for the survey questionnaires, physiological measures, and demographics.

From 2019 to 2021, obesity among pregnant women in the United States was highest among American Indian and Alaska Native women and Black women. This statistic depicts the percentage of pregnant women in the United States from 2019 to 2021 who were obese, overweight, normal weight, or underweight, by race/ethnicity.

In 2023, around 43 percent of all adult Hispanics in Oklahoma were obese. Certain environments in the United States may encourage an unhealthy lifestyle that leads to obesity. This statistic depicts the obesity rates for adults in Oklahoma in 2023, by race/ethnicity.