20% of children leave primary school obese

A report on primary school children in 2014/15 by the Health Department has shown that 11 per cent of reception children – age four to five – and 20 per cent of Year 6 pupils – aged ten and 11 – are obese.

It also showed that the number of obese and overweight five year olds had generally decreased during the last decade but has taken a ‘slight, but not significant’ upward turn over the last two years and now stands at around 23 per cent.

However, the Health Department said that the numbers were still ‘significantly less’ than they were between 2006 and 2007.

Obesity is defined as a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for children and teenagers of the same age and sex. This means that a child who is obese has a greater BMI than 95 per cent of others of the same age and sex. Overweight children have a BMI above the 85th percentile.

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