Obesity rate in U.S. adults no longer growing, new CDC data suggests

Around 40% of adults in the U.S. are obese, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests — marking the first time in over a decade that the nation's obesity rate has not inched up in results from the federal government's national health survey.

The figures come from a new report by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, analyzing data collected through the agency's decadeslong National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey nationwide. 

In 2000, the survey estimated that around 30% of adults were obese, defined as having a body mass index of greater than or equal to 30. By 2020, the CDC's estimate of the adult obesity rate had climbed to 41.9%.