Washington, D.C. is the 34th fattest state in U.S., according to a new report “2018’s Fattest States in America” released by personal finance site WalletHub.
Each state was ranked on more than two dozen key metrics including number of obese and overweight people, consumption of sugary drink by adolescents, and healthcare costs related to obesity. D.C. and 50 other states were compared by WalletHub across 25 key metrics.
Washington got a total score of 55.10, ranking 38th for obesity and overweight prevalence, 15th on health and consequences, and 47th for food and fitness criterion.
WalletHub compared 50 states and D.C. across three key dimensions to find out the fattest states in America. The three dimensions included prevalence of obesity, health consequences and, food and fitness.
The rankings were based on data collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, Trust for America’s Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Gallup, Data Resource Center for Child, Adolescent Health, National Conference of State Legislatures and Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
Over 7 in 10 U.S. adults (20 years and older) are either overweight or obese, as per recent data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Weight-loss industry continues to grow parallel to the obesity problem in America. “In 2017, the U.S. weight loss and diet control market was valued at $66 billion. The U.S. spends in total nearly $200 billion in annual health care costs related to obesity,” according to WalletHub.
Mississippi ranked the fattest state in America overall in the list followed by West Virginia and Arkansas which ranked second and third among the top ten fattest states.
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