Obesity levels of reception pupils in Wales rise

Statistics by the Child Measurement Programme revealed a rise in the number of obese four to five-year-olds over the last two years.

The data shows that more than one in four children assessed were overweight or obese in 2016.17.

The gap in levels of obesity is now at 6.2 per cent between those living int he most disadvantaged areas (14.9 per cent) and the least disadvantaged (8.7 per cent).

The CMP is a national surveillance programme run by Public Health Wales recording the heights and weights of children in their reception year of primary school.

Linda Bailey, consultant lead for the Child Measurement Programme said: “The number of children that are obese at the age of four to five years old has been going in the wrong direction over the past two years.

“In particular, over the last two years the level of obesity has shown a statistically significant increase. While it is too soon to see an overall trend, there is an increasing gap in obesity levels between the most and least disadvantaged areas in Wales.”