Stocking got it right, both articles are in fact correct, they're just using different measurements.
The current 2010 estimates show that the rate of males with a BMI greater than or equal to 30 (obese) in the United States is 44.2% and the rate of females with a BMI greater than or equal to 30 in the United States is 48.3%. This puts it at places 4 and 14, respectively.
The current 2010 estimates show that the rate of males with a BMI greater than or equal to 25 (overweight) in the United States is 80.5% and the rate of females with a BMI greater than or equal to 25 in the United States is 76.7%. This puts it at places 7 and 14, respectively.
These are prevalence rates, which the WHO defines as
The prevalence of a disease/risk factor in a statistical population is defined as the ratio of the number of cases of a disease present in a statistical population at a specified time and the number of individuals in the population at that specified time. In plain english, "prevalence" simply means "proportion" (typically expressed as a percentage).
You can look up the statistics for yourself here:
https://apps.who.int/infobase/I do find it odd that Wikipedia cites the forbes article instead of the actual source data at the WHO. It's also clearly out of date by a couple years. But I seriously don't understand what the point of this thread is. If you're trying to make some kind of statement about the accuracy of Wikipedia or Forbes, you're doing it wrong. If you're trying to point out that Americans are fat, then yes, we know that already. All we have to do is look in a mirror.
