One in 10 school starters obese - UK figures
One in 10 children are obese when they start school, UK figures suggest.
In 2011/12, 9.5% of children in Reception class – who are aged just four and five – were classed as clinically obese, according to data from the UK Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).
And a fifth of pupils in Year Six – aged 10 and 11 – were excessively overweight.
Overall, three in 10 boys and girls aged two to 15 were classed as either overweight or obese.
The figures show that Britain’s obesity epidemic has got progressively worse over the last two decades.
Some 65% of men and 58% of women are overweight or obese.
The HSCIC said between 1993 and 2011 there was a “marked increase” in the proportion of adults that were obese.
In 1993, 13% of men and 16% of women were obese and the figures soared to 24% and 26% respectively by 2011.
