Here’s some fascinating, almost jaw-dropping, information about the economic costs of obesity in America.
– Americans consume 938 million extra gallons of gas/year due to excess passenger weight which results in an extra $4 billion in obesity related gasoline costs.
– 86% of Americans are expected to be overweight by 2030
– The estimated indirect cost of obesity in America is $450 billion per year
– Obesity costs the average man an extra $2,646 per year and the average woman an extra $4,879 on average
– Airlines use an estimated 350 million additional gallons of fuel to handle excess weight in passengers (a cost which gets passed on to everyone)
Source: www.top-nursing-programs.com via CP
The moral of the story is that obesity costs a lot both on a national and individual level. With 86% of Americans on track to become obese within the next two decades, it’s clearly in our national economic interest to fight this epidemic.
