National check-up: Australia's fattest state revealed in new report (2024)
Tasmania has been named the unhealthiest state in the country with the highest stress levels, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and smoking rates.
A new report shows 63.9 per cent of Tasmanians have an unhealthy BMI, compared to 59.9 per cent of people in South Australia, 58.4 per cent in ACT, 57.4 per cent in Queensland and the Northern Territory, 57.2 per cent in Western Australia, 55.3 per cent in Victoria and 54.6 per cent in New South Wales.
The data comes from Australia’s Health Report, which conducted more than 755,000 health checks in Priceline pharmacy stores over a two-year period.
“Their weight is not good,” Priceline ambassador Ita Buttrose said of Tasmanians on Sunrise.
The report also found that women are outperforming their male counterparts as the healthiest sex when it comes to BMI (47.9 per cent compared to 65.4 per cent), blood pressure (10.8 per cent to 14.8 per cent), diabetes (4 per cent to 5.8 per cent) and smoking prevalence (13.8 per cent to 18.1 per cent).
But it was stress that has health experts most concerned.
The report identified that stress was a key problem for women nationally, with 8.8 per cent experiencing high stress levels compared to 5.1 per cent of Aussie men.
“I think it’s because we juggle, and women put a lot of stress on themselves by saying they’ve got to be perfect,” Buttrose explained.
Comparisons for measured body weight are based on data from 2021 or the latest available year (OECD 2022). Australia ranked 9th out of 21 countries with available data for the proportion of people aged 15 and over who were living with overweight or obesity (65%) – this was greater than the OECD average of 60%.
West Virginia is the most obese state, with an obesity rate of 40.6%. Kentucky follows closely behind at 40.3%%, while Alabama is the third most obese state with an obesity rate of 39.9%.
West Virginia (41%), Louisiana (40.1%) and Oklahoma (40%) are the states with the fattest populations in the nation, laying claim to the highest proportion of adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 40% or greater, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Based on this ranking, Australia seems to be the safest country among them, followed by the UK and then the USA. However, this ranking may not reflect all aspects of safety and may change over time due to various factors.
The state with the highest poverty rate is Tasmania (12.7 per cent) followed by South Australia and Queensland with 11.1 and 9.9 per cent of their respective populations in poverty. The ACT has the lowest poverty rate of 6.5 per cent. (See Table 1.)
Australia is ranked fifth for obesity, with wider waistlines than countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland, but slimmer than Hungary, New Zealand, Mexico and the United States, which has an obesity rate of 38.2 per cent.
The rise in obesity has been attributed to poor eating habits in the country closely related to the availability of fast food since the 1970s, sedentary lifestyles and a decrease in the labour workforce.
West Virginia, Louisiana, and Oklahoma are the U.S. states with the highest percentage of their population who are obese. The states with the lowest percentage of their population who are obese include Colorado, Hawaii, and Vermont.
Part of an ongoing series on obesity in America. The obesity crisis is catching up with Colorado, the nation's thinnest state. Being fit is part of the culture in Colorado: there are biking trails and hiking trails and ski slopes and even the high altitude itself helps burn off calories.
2 in 3 (67%) adults were overweight or obese in 2017–18 – 36% were overweight but not obese and 31% were obese. Australia had the 9th highest proportion of overweight or obese people aged 15+ among 21 OECD member countries in 2021.
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