Explain this statistic to me

[Laura]

How I got through two years of calculus and one year of statistics in college I will never know, but...

I just read that 71% of all men are overweight and 31% are obese. Clearly that can't mean that there are no men who are not overweight or obese, but that is the way that I read it. (BTW this was from an online article on CNN and the exact sentence reads as follows: The CDC's latest survey reported 71 percent of men are overweight and 31 percent are obese. For women, it's 62 percent overweight and 33 percent obese.)

[Grace]

Let's say there are 100 men. 71 of those men are overweight. 29 are not overweight. 31 men are obese (and they also fall into the overweight category because being obese is being overweight, so they are already included in the 71 men already counted).

Maybe they should have said that 40 men were "just" overweight, 31 are obese, and 29 are not. But they lumped the overweight and obese people together to make a stronger point, that all in all, 71 of 100 men are overweight - of whatever varying degree.

[aggie94]

Someone who is obese is also overweight, so of the 71% of the population who are overweight, there is a group that makes up 31% of the total population who are also obese. But that still leaves 29% who are not overweight. Does that help?

[Gumbeaux]

You can be overweight without being obese so the 31% comes out of the 71%.

[Laura]

Okay, that is what I thinking. I guess I would have phrased it as 71% are overweight, and of that 71%, 31% are obese. In either case, it is a scary statistic.

[aggie94]

Okay, that is what I thinking. I guess I would have phrased it as 71% are overweight, and of that 71%, 31% are obese. In either case, it is a scary statistic.

Actually, that's not *exactly* true. It's not 31% of 71%, which would equal about 22 people, it's 31% of the total population (100%). Grace's example explains it best.

[Laura]

Okay, so I didn't have it before, but now I understand. :o

[Gumbeaux]

Okay, that is what I thinking. I guess I would have phrased it as 71% are overweight, and of that 71%, 31% are obese. In either case, it is a scary statistic.


I think the obese statistic is the one that is more scary. The overweight category is going to have millions of men that are just one or two pounds overweight. :D

[Valerie226]

And don't forget that people who are very muscular may turn out "statistically" to be overweight or obese. happens with professional athletes all the time. that's the trouble with using just height and weight to calculate. Muscle is denser & weighs more than fat. Not that we as a country are overrun with lean, very muscular people, but if you actually have worked hard to be very fit statistics would lump you in with the slackers. probably would tick you off big time. I doubt the numbers are high enough to change the overall per centages much, if at all.

[Canice]

OK, now that we have that cleared up, may I say that I wish the CDC (and/or the reporters who quote it) would stop saying certain categories of people "are more likely to die" than others? Sorry, but an obese chain smoker who rides his motorcycle drunk without a helmet on and is sexually promiscuous AND is an intravenous drug user who lives off pizza and Bud Light is not more likely to die than I am. The odds are the same for both of us.

[rosie_one]

yup, 100% of all people alive today will die.

Master of the obvious. :D

[Beachside]

Sorry, but an obese chain smoker who rides his motorcycle drunk without a helmet on and is sexually promiscuous AND is an intravenous drug user who lives off pizza and Bud Light is not more likely to die than I am. The odds are the same for both of us.


Love it love it love it :D :D :D Thanks for the good laugh Canice....but you didn't mention his sun exposure....Now maybe that would make him a *more likely to die than you* statistic --- ;) :p

[mbrogier]

It is scary to look around at a huge group of people and notice how many people are really overweight--not just bulky or a bit chunky.

I still agree with Canice, you can do everything right--like when you go to Red Robin gourmet burgers for dinner tonight you choose the low fat chicken stir fry over the burger and fries... but that' still not going to keep the moron from almost sideswiping you at 50mph on the way home. I don't want my last thoughts to be, "man, I should have had the burger." :p