This graph shows the prevalence of obesity in percentage on the y-axis and the years from 1976 to 2020 on the x-axis. Four plotted lines/curves compare obesity prevalence for Black and White males and Black and White females.

The curve showing the prevalence of obesity in Black women is well above the other prevalence lines, starting at 31% in 1976 to 1980 and rising to almost 60% by 2017 to March 2020.

The prevalence of obesity for White women started at 15% in 1976 to 1980 and didn’t reach the 30% starting point for Black women for almost 25 years, from around 1999 to 2002. Prevalence leveled off until 2007, when it steadily increased to 40% by 2020.

The prevalence of obesity between Black and White men has shifted over time. Black males had a slightly higher prevalence of obesity (17%) than White males (12%) from 1976 to 1980 to 21% in both Black and White men from 1988 to 1994. At that point, the prevalence between the two races was about the same and stayed at about the same level of increase from 21% to 28% from 1999 to 2002.

Then, the prevalence of obesity in Black men surged to 36%, with the prevalence for White men rising and holding at 33% until 2015 to 2016. That racial gap in obesity prevalence remained for about 15 years.

From 2015 to 2020, the prevalence of obesity started rising and continued to rise in Black men, from 38% to 42%, with a steeper, more rapid increase for White males, from 39% to 44%.