Obesity Persists in the U.S. While GLP-1 Weight-Loss Drugs Surge

A Pew Research Center analysis of 2024–2025 data finds about 40% of U.S. adults are obese (around 10% severely obese) with a slight decline since 2017–18; 65% say willpower alone isn’t enough to lose weight. Roughly half of Americans report hearing about Ozempic, Wegovy, and similar GLP-1 drugs extremely or very often, with women and older adults more likely to say so. Public opinion skews toward using GLP-1s for obesity-related health conditions rather than for weight loss alone. GLP-1 drugs have generated billions in revenue—Novo Nordisk’s 2024 GLP-1 sales totaled about $31.1 billion (majority from the U.S.), and Lilly’s Mounjaro/Zepbound have also surged. Medicaid coverage varies by state (13 cover GLP-1s for obesity, 7 cover some weight-loss drugs but not GLP-1s), and prescriptions rose from about 1.3 million in 2019 to 8.4 million in 2024, with spending climbing to roughly $8.6 billion.