Americans are getting bigger but not taller

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 01 Mar 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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According to a new survey, Americans are growing - around the waist, that is.

10,000 people were scanned using a hi-tech scanner. The survey covered more than 13 US cities.

The results of the survey are worrying. 20% of American men are portly. 25% are so fat that they have trouble finding their waist when it has to be measured.

66% of American women are pear shaped. Very few American men or women fit into what used to be called the 'standard clothing size'. Standard clothing size for women is a size 8.

A size 8 means the woman has a 35-27-37.5 inch body (bust-waist-hips). Does the standard American woman today have these measurements?

The average woman aged 18-25 has a figure that consists of 38-32-41. And these are the young ones!!!

In the late thirties group the figures jump to 41-34-43, for a black woman 43-37-46.

The 'standard' chest size for men of 40 inches seems rather out-of-date. The traditional average has always been (for a man) 40-34-40 (chest-waist-hips).

Not even average young men can fit into this size. The average 18-25 male statistics are now 41-35-41.

The average 36-45 white male has a 44-38-42 figure. The average 36-45 black male is slightly slimmer at 43-37-42.

According to the survey:

- Women are on average 5 feet 4 inches tall.

- Women weigh on average 148 pounds

- Men are on average 5 feet 9 inches tall

- Men weigh on average 180 pounds

- Men and women have increased their average weight by about 4 pounds since 1994 (last CDC survey)

_ Men and women have the same height as in 1994 (average)

_ 51% of men thought their weight was ideal

- 38% of women thought their weight was ideal

- 10% of men thought they were quite overweight

- 20% of women thought they were quite overweight

The survey was sponsored by the clothing and textile industries of the USA, plus the Army and Navy (and some Universities).

It is the biggest survey carried out in the USA since 1941.