Child Obesity Rates: Here’s Where Pennsylvania Ranks

PENNSYLVANIA — The obesity rate among children between 10 and 17 years old in Pennsylvania is 17.1 percent, according to a new report from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The nonpartisan philanthropic and research group, dedicated to improving the country’s health, released its findings this week.

Obesity is defined in the study as a body mass index (BMI) that is at or above the 95th percentile for children and teens of the same age and sex. For comparison, overweight is defined as a BMI at or above the 85th percentile and below the 95th percentile.

Pennsylvania had the ninth-ranked childhood obesity rate in the nation for 2017-18, the study found. The national obesity rate for children in our state saw an increase/slight decrease over the past two years.

Nationally, a staggering 4.8 million young people, between the ages of 10 and 17, are obese.

Nationally, the average obesity rate was 15.3 percent.

Obesity can put children at risk for serious health conditions, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, asthma and certain types of cancer, the study said.

The authors noted the national obesity rate for youth in 2017-18 didn’t change significantly from 2016. As in the past, however, the study did find that Black and Hispanic youth are more likely to battle obesity than White and Asian children.

Black and Hispanic children had obesity rates of 22.2 percent and 19 percent respectively, whereas, White and Asian children had rates of 11.8 percent and 7.3 percent.

“These new data show that this challenge touches the lives of far too many children in this country, and that Black and Hispanic youth are still at greater risk than their White and Asian peers,” said Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in a press release.

Mississippi had the highest obesity rate among children ages 10-17 at 25.4 percent, followed by West Virginia and Kentucky.

On the other end of the spectrum, three states had rates under 10 percent, with Utah pacing the country for the second year in a row at 8.7 percent followed by Minnesota at 9.4 percent. Alaska, Colorado and Montana rounded out the five states with the smallest percentage of obese children.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation included several policy recommendations in the report that would help battle youth obesity across the country.

The foundation recommended that the U.S. Department of Agriculture should restore nutrition standards for school meals that were in effect before the Trump Administration watered them down in December 2018. Researchers from the nonprofit also said SNAP benefits should not be peeled back for Americans, as President Trump is currently proposing to do.

Nearly one-third of children age four or younger participate in SNAP each month, according to the report.

Here are the 10 states with the highest proportion of obese children:

1. Mississippi, 25.4 percent
2. West Virginia, 20.9 percent
3. Kentucky, 20.8 percent
4. Louisiana, 20.8 percent
5. Michigan, 18.9 percent
6. Oklahoma, 18.0 percent
7. South Carolina, 17.9 percent
8. Florida, 17.8 percent
9. Pennsylvania, 17.4 percent
10. Ohio, 17.1 percent