The adult obesity rate in Rhode Island increased by more than 3 percentage points from 2016 to 2017, according to an annual report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the state's ranking during that time has gone from the 10th-lowest in the nation to near the middle of the pack — the 29th-highest.

Rhode Island was one of six states that saw a significant increase in the adult obesity rate from 2016 to 2017, according to the report. The others were Iowa, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

According to the report, Rhode Island's adult obesity rate was 30.0 percent in 2017, up from 26.6 percent in 2016. In 2007, the foundation found that the adult obesity rate in Rhode Island was 21.4 percent, or sixth-lowest in the nation.

Additionally, the report found that Rhode Island has the fifth-highest obesity rate for children ages 10 to 17.

The Robert Wood Foundation found that 31 states have had statistically significant increases in adult obesity since 2012, and no state has seen a significant decrease during that time.

The report found that obesity is a problem throughout the country, but is "most serious in communities where conditions make access to healthy foods and regular physical activity more difficult, such as lower income and rural areas, including many communities of color."

The highest obesity rate were recorded in West Virginia (38.1 percent), Mississippi (37.3 percent), Oklahoma (36.5 percent), Iowa (36.4 percent) and Alabama (36.3 percent).

The lowest rates were in Colorado (22.6 percent), Hawaii (23.8 percent), California (25.1 percent), Montana and Utah (25.3 percent each).