Chicago Statistics
Hey Chicago! It’s In Our Hands!
"Obesity is on the verge of surpassing smoking as No. 1
preventable cause of death."
- American Obesity Association, 2004
And Chicago is leading the pack. Forty-nine percent of our citizens over the age of 20 are obese. At the same time, 83% of Chicagoans have not had a health professional give them advice about their weight. These statistics are alarming and imply that we here in Chicago need to take responsibility ourselves to correct this problem, because no one else is going to do it for us. Some more compelling statistics include the following:
Men's Fitness magazine published results of a survey recently that placed Chicago at the top of its annual list as the country's "fattest city” in 2006. Specifically:
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More than 24 percent of the survey's respondents told the magazine they hadn't had any physical activity in the previous 30 days.
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Also, six out of 10 Illinoisans are overweight enough that their size poses a significant threat to their health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Men's Health rated Chicago #35 in quality of life and fitness in January 2006.
According to the City of Chicago Department of Public Health’s BEHAVIORAL Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS; Chicago Reference Tables 2001 AUGUST 2004)
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72% of Chicagoans sit or stand at work
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Only 49% of Chicagoans meet the 30 minutes of exercise per day criteria from the FDA
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75% are currently trying to lose weight
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60% of all Chicagoans are at least overweight with 19% of these obese and 83% have never been advised by their doctor about their weight
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Thirty percent of those living in Chicago only eat one serving of vegetables weekly not daily. And only 24% eat at least one salad a day.
Being overweight or obese is linked directly to a number of serious health problems, including:
