- Nationally, obesity rate rises to 27.7% in 2014
- Obesity rates highest in Southern and Midwestern states
- Higher obesity rates linked to lower well-being
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hawaii residents were the least likely to be obese in 2014, and Hawaii was the only state where fewer than one in five residents are obese. Mississippi had the highest obesity rate in the nation for the second year in a row, at 35.2%.
Mississippi and West Virginia have had the two highest obesity rates in the nation since 2012. Five states on the list have had consistently high obesity rates — Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Kentucky. These states have been among the 10 states with the highest obesity rates every year since Gallup and Healthways began tracking obesity in 2008.
On the other end of the scale, Colorado has consistently had one of the two lowest obesity rates each year since 2008. In addition to Colorado, three states — California, Massachusetts and Connecticut — have been among the 10 states with the lowest obesity rates since 2008.