Are you average?

[deathb4disco]

US adults wider, not taller

Associated Press


NEW YORK – You don't need to hang the mistletoe higher, but you might want to skip the cookies.

A report being released today shows U.S. adults aren't getting taller – but they are getting fatter.

The average U.S. adult is overweight and just a few pounds from obese, thanks to average weight increases in all groups – but particularly whites and Hispanics.

Overall, the average height for men actually fell very slightly the past decade. There was no change for women.

One factor may be the shift in the country's population. There's a growing number of Mexican-Americans, and that group tends to be a little shorter, said one of the report's authors, Cynthia Ogden of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings come from a 2015-16 health survey that measures height and weight. More than 5,000 U.S. adults took part.

CDC records date to the early 1960s, when the average man was a little over 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed 166 pounds. Now, men are almost 1 inch taller and more than 30 pounds heavier. But today's average height of 5-foot-9 is about a tenth of an inch shorter than a decade ago.

The average woman in the early 1960s was 5-foot-3 and 140 pounds. Now, women are a half-inch taller and about 30 pounds heavier, on average. The average height is about the same as it was a decade earlier: 5-foot-4.

Other survey findings:

• In the last decade, the average weight of men rose about 2 pounds, to 198. For women, it rose 6 pounds, to nearly 171.

• Men have 40-inch waistlines, on average. Women's waistlines are a little under 39 inches.

• The average height of black men and white men has been holding steady, at a little under 5-foot-10.

• Mexican-American and Asian-American men are roughly 3 inches shorter than whites and blacks, on average.

In 2016, about 18 percent of the nation's population was Hispanic, up from about 13 percent in 2000, according to U.S. Census figures. Mexican-Americans account for nearly two-thirds of the Hispanic population.


US adults wider, not taller | Health | The Journal Gazette

[Eagle 1]

Glad to see the powers keeping up with the important stuff . Spending money on this garbage while we have vets sleeping under bridges ,hungry .

[deltarat]

If our taxes were spent more wisely, we would not have the debt we have.

[Snubby]

Where they finding women under a 171 pounds??

[Yaker]

My shorter stance,and wider footprint helps keep the kayak from flipping over as easy!

[deathb4disco]

Glad to see the powers keeping up with the important stuff . Spending money on this garbage while we have vets sleeping under bridges ,hungry .

It's the CDC. It's what they do.

[deathb4disco]

Where they finding women under a 171 pounds??

They're definitely not at Walmart.