The Average American Woman is as Heavy as the Average US Man in the 1960s, CDC Reveals

New statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that the weight of the average American women and men have been increasing in the past 50 years.

According to the information released by the CDC, the average American woman now weighs 166.2 pounds, only a little less than the weight of the average American man in the 1960s, 166.3 pounds. Meanwhile, U.S. men have also gained almost 30 pounds—166.3 to 195.5 pounds today.

In addition to height, both American men and women also increased nearly an inch in height from the 1960s. CBS reports that since that time period, women have an increased weight of 18.5 percent, while men have a 17.6 weight increase.

The CDC data also shows that today's average women have an average waist measurement of 37.5 inches and an average weight of 166.2 pounds, an increase of 140 pounds from the 1960s. The average American male currently weighs an average of 195.5 pounds with a 40-inch waist measurement, nearly as much as 1.5 times as American females in the 1960s.

In CDC's 2012 obesity and overweight statistics, it was stated that there were more than 69 percent U.S. adults who were overweight and obese. Meanwhile, more than 20 percent of teenagers, ages 12 to 19, were obese. In children, 17.7 percent of 6 to 11 year olds were considered obese while the younger ones, age 2 to 5, had an obesity rate of more than 8 percent.

Obesity is measured by one's Body Mass Index (BMI), according to Medical News Today. For people with BMI under 18.5, they are considered underweight. Normal BMI is between 18.5 and 24. People who are overweight have a BMI of 25 to 29.9, while obese people have a BMI of 30 or greater.

Obesity rates around the world have doubled since the 1980s, and it is becoming a global epidemic. In the Global Status Report by World Health Organization (WHO), more than 600 million adults were obese and approximately two billion were overweight in 2014. The report also stated that there are 42 million children, ages 5 and below, who were overweight or obese in 2013.

According to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), America is ranked 18 in terms of prevalent adult obesity in a country's population. The top three countries with the most obese population in the list are American Samoa, Nauru and Cook Islands.