One in three children are now obese in some parts of Britain. Do you live in a childhood obesity hotspot? Check out our interactive map to find out
Almost a third of children in parts of England are obese by the time they reach secondary school, today’s figures show.
Thirty-one percent of year 6 pupils in Knowsley, Merseyside, are classified as obese – more than twice the rate in greenbelt areas such as Surrey and Richmond-upon-Thames.
Nationally, the figure is over a fifth, a slight decrease from last year, but still higher than the pre-pandemic figure.
Waistlines also rose among children in care, with the proportion of four and five-year-olds considered obese reaching one in ten.
Health officials today branded the figures as ‘worrying’ and warned that the NHS ‘cannot solve Britain’s childhood obesity crisis alone’.
The figures come from the National Child Measurement Program (NCMP), which measures the height and weight of more than a million children every year.
The obesity rate among 10 to 11 year olds fell from 22.7 percent in 2022/2023 to 22.1 percent in 2023/2034.
Meanwhile, the proportion of young people considered overweight or obese also fell from 36.6 percent to 35.8 percent. Both measures are above pre-pandemic levels.
But data broken down by local authority showed that 30.7 per cent of Year 6 pupils in Knowsley were obese.
This was followed by Wolverhampton and the London borough of Barking and Dagenham with 30.2 and 29.5 percent respectively.
By comparison, this figure was 13.8 per cent in both Richmond-upon-Thames and Wokingham and 14.3 per cent in Surrey.
According to NHS Digital, among children in care in 2022/2023, 9.6 percent were considered obese, up from 9.2 percent the year before.
When the number of overweight people is also included, the share is 22.1 percent.
This was an increase of 0.8 percent compared to the previous year.
One in seven children in reception age four and five (14.1 per cent) were considered obese in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough – the worst affected areas.
This was followed by Sandwell (13.5 percent) and Blackpool (13.4 percent).
More than a million children had their height and weight measured as part of the National Child Measurement Program (NCMP). Nationally, the rate among children in the sixth form is well over a third, despite falling slightly since the start of Covid
By comparison, only 5.5 per cent were obese in Wokingham and 6.4 per cent in Cambridgeshire.
Childhood obesity has been a growing problem for years, with easy access to fast food, increased screen time and sedentary lifestyles behind rising rates in some parts of Britain.
The NCMP was established in 2006 in state-funded schools in England and was considered a key element in the former government’s war on childhood obesity.
It measures children’s height and weight, which are then used to generate a Body Mass Index.
This is compared to a national scale to determine whether the child is underweight, normal, overweight or obese.
But in 2022, researchers at Queen Mary University of London warned that the program could do more harm than good and possibly encourage eating disorders in children.
Parents of slim children have even complained about their children being wrongly labeled as fat.
Professor Simon Kenny, National Clinical Director for Children and Young People at NHS England, said today: ‘These latest figures continue to concern me as they show that almost one in ten children are now classified as obese in their first year of school.
‘Obesity can have a major impact on a child’s life; it affects every organ in the body and is essentially a ticking health time bomb for the future, as it increases a child’s risk for type 2 diabetes, cancer, mental health problems and many other diseases.
‘The NHS is committed to helping young people and families affected by extreme weight problems with tailored packages of physical, psychological and social support, including our 30 specialist weight loss clinics across the country to ensure every child has access for support if it needs it. It.
‘But the NHS cannot solve this alone and continued action from industry, local and national government, and wider society, together with the NHS, is essential to help create a healthy nation.’
Labor ministers have promised to introduce tough restrictions on junk food advertising, alongside a ban on children buying sugary energy drinks with high caffeine content.
The Local Government Association said today that money raised from the sugar tax on soft drinks should be targeted at areas with higher levels of deprivation, childhood obesity and tooth decay.
It says the tax has raised £1.9 billion since it was introduced in 2018, ‘but councils are increasingly concerned about what the money is being spent on’.
It also wants the tax to be extended to milk-based drinks such as milkshakes and coffee that are high in sugar, as well as products with high sugar content such as cakes, biscuits and chocolate.
It comes as the World Health Organization also revealed last year that 37 million children under the age of five are now overweight worldwide – four million more than at the turn of the century.
Australia ranks second in the table of 198 countries, with 21.8 percent of children there considered overweight.
Britain ranked 22nd (11.3 percent), while the US claimed 52nd place (7.9 percent).
Obesity not only increases waist size, but also healthcare costs, with the NHS estimated to spend £6.1 billion annually on treating weight-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.