Being overweight or obese puts a person at greater risk for a wide variety of serious health problems. Obesity is recognized as a national problem that has grown tremendously over the last three decades, contributing to increases in medical expenditures for treatment of related diseases.

In 2024, 73% of adults were overweight or obese, up 2 percentage points from 2014 and above the national rate of 69%. Arkansas is 50th in the nation on this indicator, including the 50 states and Washington, D.C. The state's rate is only slightly lower than West Virginia (74%).

Rates are higher for males (76%) than females (70%). The rate for males is 4 percentage points higher than in 2014; the rate for females is 6 points higher. Black non-Hispanic adults (80%) had the highest rates by race/ethnicity, followed by Multiracial and Non-Hispanic American Indians & Alaskan Natives (both 79%), Hispanic adults (76%) and White non-Hispanic adults (72%).

Within the state in 2023, the most recent date for which county comparison data was available, the lowest rates were in Sebastian and Hot Spring counties, at 67% and 68% respectively. The highest rate was in Drew County, at 83%.

National data comes from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey designed to collect scientific data on health risks and behaviors. Respondents were asked for their height and weight for a computation of Body Mass Index. Beginning in 2011, the Centers for Disease Control made two changes to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System on which this indicator is based. The survey now includes cell-phone users, and a new statistical method is used to weight responses.

State and county data and data for subgroups are from the Arkansas Department of Health.