Topeka ? A new report says the percentage of Kansans who are obese has more than doubled in the past 15 years, with 29 percent of the adult population fitting that category.

That’s the fourth-fastest growth rate in the nation since 1995, when Kansas ranked 36th with a 13.5 percent obesity rate. Thursday’s report puts Kansas at 16th overall.

Two public health groups on Thursday released their annual obesity report, which for the first time looks at how obesity rates have grown over the past two decades.

Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issued the report, which recommends increasing access to healthy foods and exercise opportunities as ways to trim the nation’s waistline.

Nine out of the top 10 most-obese states were in the South, led by Mississippi.