Community Corner
What's the Most Obese County in New Jersey?
Obesity is responsible for more than 300,000 US deaths annually.
Obesity rates for New Jersey men and women have climbed steadily over the past decade, with nearly one-third of all residents classified as obese in 2011, up from roughly one-quarter of residents in 2001, according to the latest available data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Within the Garden State, a stark geographical divide in obesity rates exists between North and South Jerseyans, with South Jersey residents taking the cake — and apparently eating it too.
Salem and Cumberland counties, where more than 40 percent of residents were obese in 2011, have the highest obesity rates in the state, while Hunterdon and Bergen counties had the lowest percentage of obese residents in 2011.
In Union County, the 2011 obesity rate for males was an estimated 30.5 percent, a 5.4 percent increase over the course of the last 10 years. The county's obesity rate for females was 34.4 percent, a 6.7 percent increase over the last decade.
Union County bucked some statewide trends, including women outpacing men in the increase of obesity. In Union County, males fall below New Jersey obesity averages while women are slightly higher.
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No counties in the state were immune from the country's growing obesity epidemic, as all experienced at least a 3.7 percentage point increase in their number of obese residents.
Broken down by gender, the percentage of New Jersey men who are obese now exceeds the number of obese women living in the state. From 2001 to 2011, the prevalence of obesity has increased by 7.7 percentage points among New Jersey men and 5.9 percentage points among New Jersey women.
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Hudson County bucks the state trend in regard to obesity and gender, with a larger percentage of women who are obese (36.9 percent) than men (30.6 percent). Both genders saw a 6-plus percentage point increase in obesity in the decade studied, with the obesity rate for women increasing at a slightly faster pace.
Compared to other states, men (32.6 percent) and women (32.2 percent) in New Jersey are slightly slimmer than the national obesity average of 35.7 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The map above breaks down obesity figures by county using data obtained from a recent study conducted at the University of Washington that found nationwide women are more obese than their male counterparts.
Obesity is calculated by measuring a person’s height and weight, and deriving at a ratio called the body mass index, or BMI. This number often correlates to an individual’s amount of body fat, and is used to ascertain whether a person is considered underweight, a normal weight, overweight or obese.
Obese individuals have a 50 to 100 percent increased risk of premature death, and it’s estimated that obesity may be the cause of 300,000 deaths per year, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
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