Americans Much More Obese Than Canadians, Said Report

Obesity rates are significantly higher in America than Canada, a new study showed.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 34 percent of Americans are obese compared to 24 percent of Canadians.

The drastic difference may be due to the different racial compositions of the countries. The CDC said that the U.S. has higher black and Hispanic populations, both of which have higher obesity rates. When comparing just the rates of the white population, America is still largely higher at 33 percent, with Canada at 26 percent.

It's not clear why that is, said study-co-author Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist with the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

"We share this border and many other things. It's a question we need to investigate more," she said..

The study is one of many that shows that the U.S. is one of the most unhealthy developed countries.

A 2006 Harvard Medical School study found that Americans are 42 percent more likely than Canadians to have diabetes, 32 percent more likely to have high blood pressure and 12 percent more likely to have arthritis.

Visit AOL Health to read more about the study.