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  (Reuters/Rick Wilking)

America is becoming fatter. The percentage of obese adults in the U.S. has increased in 16 states over the past 12 months, and alarmingly not a single state decreased in this statistic.

The South has the highest percentage of people that are overweight, with nine out of ten of the most obese states being located in the South.

Mississippi has held on to its unwanted crown of being the state with the highest level of obesity, with more than one-in-three weighing in at an obese level (34.4 percent).

Colorado has tried to moderate the weight of America and contains the lowest rate of obese people in the nation, with just 19.8 percent.

This latest report was created with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in which people self-report their height and weight.

Worryingly because the statistics are self-assessed, people tend to underestimate their weight when submitting their information, meaning America is likely to be even larger than indicated.

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The study reveals that an enormous 34 percent of adults in the U.S. are obese; equating to approximately 73 million people.

Graduates from colleges or technical colleges are less likely to be obese, with 21.5 percent measured as obese. Non-graduates were much fatter with 33 percent being obese.

Wealth also influences the statistics; 34 percent of those who earn $15k or less are obese, compared to just 24.6 percent of those who earn more than $50k.

According to the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation the ten most-obese states are:

1. Mississippi (34.4 percent)
2. Alabama (32.3 percent)
3. West Virginia (32.2 percent)
4. Tennessee (31.9 percent)
5. Louisiana (31.6 percent)
6. Kentucky (31.5 percent)
7. Oklahoma (31.4 percent)
8. South Carolina (30.9 percent)
9. Arkansas (30.6 percent)
10. Michigan (30.5 percent)