How many children are obese?
Latest figures for 2012/13, show that 18.9 per cent of children in year 6 (aged 10 to 11) were obese and a further 14.4 per cent were overweight. Of children in reception (aged four to five), 9.3 per cent were obese and another 13 per cent were overweight. This means almost a third of 10- to 11-year-olds and more than a fifth of four- to five-year-olds were overweight or obese.
The situation has been getting worse in recent years. The government will tell you that obesity rates have stabilised, but it does not tell you that rates have stabilised in more affluent areas and have got worse in more deprived areas. The situation has a distinct socio-economic link. You are more likely to see obese people in the inner cities and less likely to see them in the suburbs.
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