Obesity Decreasing Slightly In America, Survey Finds

A recent Gallup poll shows a little bit of good news with regard to America's obesity epidemic: Obesity rates are decreasing slightly across most demographic groups, unlike the last two years.

More people are normal weight than overweight in the United States (36.6 percent, compared with 35.8 percent), a phenomenon that hasn't occurred in more than three years. However, when you add together the number of Americans who are overweight AND the number who are obese, that number is still extremely high -- at 61.6 percent -- and is greater than the number of normal weight Americans.

Overweight is defined as having a body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) of 25 to 29.9, while obese is defined as having a BMI of 30 or above. Normal weight is defined as having a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9.

Click through this slideshow for more on the obesity of certain demographics in the U.S., from most obese to least obese.