Just over one in five children in England start their school life overweight or obese, says a report from The NHS Information Centre out today.

And figures for those in the final year of primary school – Year 6 – show that the number of children who are overweight or obese is nearly one in three.

Under the Government's National Child Measurement Programme 2008/09, Reception year children (aged four and five) and Year 6 children (aged ten and 11) were measured to establish the prevalence of pupils who were ‘underweight', ‘healthy weight', ‘overweight' and ‘obese'.

The study showed:

• Between 2007/08 and 2008/09 there were no significant changes in the prevalence rates for underweight, overweight, or obese children for both age groups.
• And, in 2008/09 more boys than girls were overweight and obese in both Reception and Year 6.
• In Reception class, 24.0 per cent of boys were overweight or obese, while 21.5 per cent of girls were overweight or obese.
• The proportion of children in Reception class who were overweight or obese was 22.8 per cent of which 9.6 per cent were obese.
• In Year 6, the proportion of children who were overweight or obese was 32.6 per cent – 34.5 per cent among boys and 30.7 per cent among girls.
• The proportion of Year 6 pupils who were obese was 18.3 per cent.
• Obesity prevalence was significantly higher than the national average in the London, North East and West Midlands strategic health authority areas for both age groups.

Chief executive of The NHS Information Centre Tim Straughan said: “This is the fourth year of the programme and participation in the study has grown to more than a million children.

“The study shows that the number of children starting their school life either overweight or obese is just over one in five and that it is even higher in Year 6 where nearly one in three pupils is either overweight or obese.

“These findings echo very closely the picture that emerged from last year's study. They highlight the scale of obesity among some of our young children – something which may affect their future health.”

Regional information is available from this report. The full report is at www.ic.nhs.uk/ncmp

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre (The IC) is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researcher, regulators and policymakers in their work. The IC also produces more than 120 statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
2. Established in 2005, the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) weighs and measures children in Reception (typically aged four and five years old) and Year 6 (aged ten and 11 years). The findings are used to inform local planning and delivery of services for children and gather population-level surveillance data to allow analysis of trends in weight. The programme also seeks to engage with parents about the importance of healthy weight in children, since their children's results are shared with them
3. The NCMP is part of the government's Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: a Cross-Government Strategy for England, The Government's strategy is implemented by the Cross-Government Obesity Unit, with the Department of Health (DH) responsible for overall policy on obesity and jointly responsible with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) for policy on child obesity. Central collation and analysis of the NCMP data has been coordinated by The NHS Information Centre since 2006/07. Data are supplied locally by primary care trusts with the support and cooperation of schools.
4. When examining prevalence rates it is also important to consider how the participation rate might affect the calculated prevalence figures. Analyses performed in 2007/08 concluded that a lower participation rate may lead to an underestimation of prevalence for obese children for Year 6, but had little or no effect on prevalence for Reception children. It is estimated that Year 6 obesity prevalence for 2006/07 (17.5%) is underestimated by around 1.3 percentage points, for 2007/08 (18.3%) it is underestimated by around 0.8 percentage points, and for 2008/09 (18.3%) it is underestimated by around 0.7 percentage points due to obese children being more likely to opt of out being measured than other children.