Charted: Here's how Americans are approaching healthy eating

Mar 1, 2023

With the collaboration of Statista.

Baby Boomers are the generation most likely to pursue healthy food habits. Image: Unsplash/ellaolsson

Katharina Buchholz

Data Journalist, Statista

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Around 50% of Americans say they are actively trying to eat more healthily, Statista Consumer Insights show.
Yet, more than a third of the population consumes fast food regularly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a recent survey, almost half of US adults report price as a barrier to eating healthy foods.

Around half of Americans are healthy eaters, at least according to their own testimonies. According to Statista Consumer Insights, 50 percent of Americans claim to actively try to eat healthy. The attitude is most prevalent among Baby Boomers at 58 percent agreeing, but not much lower among Gen Z, where 44 percent said they were pursuing the aim.

At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found out that more than 36 percent of Americans are consuming fast food regularly, to the extend that on any given day, a third of Americans is eating from fast food restaurants.

Discover

What is the World Economic Forum doing to encourage healthy living in cities?

It can be tough to stay healthy when living in a big city. The Forum is responding through its Healthy Cities and Communities initiative by working to create innovative urban partnerships, which are helping residents find a renewed focus on their physical and mental health.

In 2020, the project continued to expand to new locations and has effectively helped communities impacted by COVID-19. Our work is continuing with concrete actions in 2021 where best practices and learnings from all partner cities will be shared, allowing other cities to replicate and scale.

In Jersey City, USA the Healthy Cities and Communities initiative is working with AeroFarms to deliver locally sourced vertically farmed greens to people in need. The initiative is also helping homeless people who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

In Mumbai, India (home to more than 20 million people) the initiative is working with the local startup community and engaging them on multiple sanitation challenges.

Learn more and find out how to join the initiative in our impact story.

In a separate survey by the Cleveland Clinic, 46 percent of U.S. adults said a barrier to eating healthy foods was their price. Almost a quarter of Americans stated that they had to little time to cook and prepare healthy foods, while a high 20 percent said they didn't know how to cook healthy foods.

Statistics showing the attitudes of US adults towards eating healthy food.

Baby Boomers are the generation most likely to seek out healthy foods. Image: Statista/Cleveland Clnic

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