Obesity: Child obesity is declining - but 10-year-olds still above pre-Covid levels

The number of obese and overweight children in the UK is continuing to fall, according to NHS figures.

New statistics from NHS England show that obesity among four and five-year-olds has fallen from 10.1 per cent to 9.2 per cent - a sharp decrease from the 14.4 per cent recorded in 2020/21. The new figure is also the lowest obesity level in almost 20 years.

However, while Year 6 students (10-11 years old) are also less obese, but the levels remain higher than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

Looking at the overall data and splitting it by gender, boys are more likely to be overweight than girls. For boys in Reception, obesity prevalence was 9.3 per cent, compared with 9 per cent of girls. For boys in Year 6, it was 25.1 per cent, compared with 20.1 per cent of girls.

Meanwhile, children living in the most deprived areas of England are twice as likely to be obese as those in the most affluent regions. Obesity levels were 12.4 per cent for Reception children in the most deprived areas, compared with 5.8 per cent of those living in the least deprived.

For children in Year 6, levels were 30.2 per cent in the most deprived, compared with 13.1 per cent in the least deprived. The proportion of children in Year 6 living with obesity was highest in the North East (25.8 per cent), the West Midlands (25.2 per cent) and London (24.8 per cent). It was lowest in the South West and the South East (both 19.4 per cent).

The National Child Measurement Programme data further showed that the proportion of children in Year 6 who are underweight has increased slightly, from 1.5 per cent in 2021/22 to 1.6 per cent in 2022/23, and is the highest recorded rate since 2009/10.