Child Obesity in US Higher Than Ever

(Feb. 9) -- It's easy to see why Michelle Obama has launched a campaign to prevent America's children from putting on too much weight. Just look around the nation's schools and malls. Or, more to point of the first lady's Let's Move program, look at the kids sitting motionless in the glow of video screens from coast to coast.

The chart below illustrates the dramatic increase in childhood obesity during the past three decades. Statistics collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from a variety of studies over the years show the percentage of school-age children (6-19) considered obese has tripled since 1980. Although the rate has leveled off in the most recent surveys, it remains at an all-time high.

These studies defined obesity based on body mass index, a ratio of height to weight. Children with a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for other kids of the same age and sex are considered obese, according to the CDC.