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Obesity Rates Higher In Towns

OTTAWA -- Adults who live in cities are less likely to be obese than those living in outlying areas, says a new report from Statistics Canada.

The agency said 20% of residents aged 18 or older who lived in large centres were obese in 2004, compared with 29% of those who lived outside a metropolitan area.

In areas with a population of at least two million, such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, 17% of adults were obese.

The comparable figure for areas with a population of 100,000 to two million was 24%, and in urban centres with populations of 10,000 to 100,000, 30% of adults were found to be obese.

The national average for obesity among adults was 23%, or 5.5-million Canadians.

However, "while there was a relationship between excess weight and urban-rural residence among adults, the same was not true for children," Statistics Canada says.

"Alberta was the one exception to this trend. There, young people aged two to 17 who lived in (cities) were less likely to be overweight-obese than were those who did not (live in cities)."