A report released today has shown Western Australia’s regional areas have some of the highest rates of obese and overweight people in the country.

Figures released by the National Health Performance Authority show 65 per cent of WA’s total population is rated overweight.

But the rate is higher in the Goldfields and Mid-West region, where 74 per cent of people are considered either overweight or obese.

The report revealed overweight and obesity rates are increasing rapidly, with 44 per cent of adults overweight or obese in 1989, rising to 63 per cent in 2011-’12.

The nation’s most overweight region is western New South Wales, where 79 per cent of people are overweight.

The report stated the percentage of adults who were overweight or obese increased with geographic remoteness and lower socioeconomic status.

Yet still half of adults (54 per cent) in the wealthiest urban areas were overweight or obese, and two in 10 (19 per cent) were obese.