A Gallup poll released this week found that 11% of U.S. adults currently take a GLP-1 medication for weight loss, up from 3% in 2024, while 15% report having used one at some point. The survey, based on a web poll of over 5,000 U.S. adults, also found that awareness of GLP-1 drugs has climbed to 91% of respondents, up from 80% two years earlier.
Alongside the rise in usage, Gallup's tracking shows the U.S. adult obesity rate has declined to 36.4% in 2026, down from a record high of 39.9% in 2022 -- the year after semaglutide (Wegovy) received FDA approval for weight management. Gallup researchers note the two trends move inversely, though the poll data alone cannot establish that GLP-1 use is the sole driver of the decline.
The survey also found a notable price-driven shift within the GLP-1 market: 68% of current users take brand-name medications, while 19% use compounded versions, and 35% of those on compounded drugs say they switched away from a brand-name product, primarily citing cost.
Diabetes diagnosis rates, by contrast, have held roughly steady since 2023 -- an expected pattern, researchers note, since a declining obesity rate would be expected to stabilize rather than immediately reduce existing diabetes prevalence.
The rapid rise in adoption also raises the long-term maintenance question directly: how much of this weight loss will be sustained years from now. Our weight regain statistics article and the site's Weight Loss Reality Simulator both address that question using published long-term follow-up data.