U.S. adults not getting taller, just heavier
NEW YORK — You don’t need to hang the mistletoe higher, but you might want to skip the holiday cookies.
A new report shows U.S. adults aren’t getting any taller but they are still 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 fell slightly over the past decade. There was no change for women.
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 back 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 feet, 9 inches is about a tenth of an inch shorter than about a decade ago.
The average woman in the early 1960s was 5 feet, 3 inches and 140 pounds. Now, women are a halfinch taller and about 30 pounds heavier, on average. The average height is about the same as it was a decade earlier: 5 feet, 4 inches.
Other 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 at a little under 5-10.
■ Mexican-American and Asian-American men are roughly 3 inches shorter than whites and blacks, on average. There was a similar height gap in women.
In 2016, 18 percent of the nation’s population was Hispanic, up from about 13 percent in 2000, according to U.S. Census figures.