United States, which has dropped to 40.3% in 2023, down from 41.9% in 2020 . This marks the first decrease observed since 2011, indicating that while progress is being made, the rate remains significantly above the Healthy People 2030 goal of 36%. The persistence of high obesity rates underscores a complex public health challenge that necessitates a multifaceted approach to address underlying causes.
America's obesity problem is growing — and it is disproportionately affecting one region of the country. 
The southern United States is home to 90 of the 100 most obese counties nationwide, and the 15 fattest. 
CDC report revealed, while separate figures suggest the rates among children are as high as 17 percent.
Among adults aged 20 and older, about 40.3% were estimated to be obese between August 2021 and August 2023, according to a report released early Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics.
This is lower than the 41.9% estimated to be obese between 2017 and 2020 but higher than the 37.7% figure recorded from 2013 to 2014.
U.S. has not changed significantly in a decade, even as the rate of severe obesity climbed from nearly 8% in the 2013-2014 survey to nearly 10% in the most recent one. Before that, obesity had increased rapidly in the U.S. since the 1990s, federal surveys showed.
Measures of obesity and severe obesity are determined according to body mass index, a calculation based on height and weight. People with a BMI of 30 are considered to have obesity; those with a BMI of 40 or higher have severe obesity. BMI is regarded as a flawed tool but remains widely used by doctors to screen for obesity.
The release of the new CDC figures also comes ahead of a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee hearing with the chief executive officer of Novo Nordisk, questioning the drugmaker for the high prices it charges for its blockbuster semaglutide drugs, branded as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss.
A surge of demand for Novo Nordisk's drugs, as well as similar tirzepatide drugs made by rival Eli Lilly branded as Zepbound for weight loss and Mounjaro for diabetes, have landed them on the Food and Drug Administration's shortage list for years.
"Epidemiologists have estimated that more than 40,000 lives per year could be saved if Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs were made affordable and widely available in the United States," the panel, led by Democrats and Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, said in a release ahead of the hearing. 
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