New NHS data shows that a “significant increase” in obesity rates of both reception-age children and year 6 pupils in the past year.
The increase – of around 4.5 percentage points between 2019/20 and 2020/21 – is the highest annual rise since the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) began.
The programme’s 2020/21 report (NHS, 2021) found obesity prevalence among four and five-year-olds in reception classes rose from 9.9 per cent in 2019/20 to 14.4 per cent in 2020/21.
In 2006/07 – the earliest year for which comparable data is available for this age group – obesity rates stood at 9.9 per cent.
Among year 6 pupils, obesity prevalence increased from 21 per cent to 25.5 per cent in 2020/21. The earliest comparable figures for this cohort are from 2009/10, when obesity prevalence was 18.7 per cent.
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