We have detected that you are using Internet Explorer to visit this website. Internet Explorer is now being phased out by Microsoft. As a result, NHS Digital no longer supports any version of Internet Explorer for our web-based products, as it involves considerable extra effort and expense, which cannot be justified from public funds. Some features on this site will not work. You should use a modern browser such as Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. If you have difficulty installing or accessing a different browser, contact your IT support team.
Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet, England, 2020
Official statistics- Publication Date:
- 5 May 2020
- Geographic Coverage:
- England
- Geographical Granularity:
- Country, Clinical Commissioning Groups, Local Authorities
- Date Range:
- 01 Apr 2018 to 31 Dec 2019
Part 4: Childhood overweight and obesity
The main source for this part is the National Child Measurement Programme for England (NCMP) which includes nearly all children in reception year (aged 4-5) and year 6 (aged 10-11). 95% of eligible children were measured in 2018/19.
Health Survey for England (HSE) also collects data on childhood obesity; covering all children aged 2-15, although as a sample it has much lower coverage than NCMP and therefore the estimates are less precise.
NCMP and HSE collect height and weight measurements to calculate BMI for each child. BMI (adjusted for age and sex) is recommended as a practical estimate of overweight and obesity in children as it takes into account different growth patterns in boys and girls at different ages.
BMI = Person’s weight (kg) / Person’s height (in metres)2
Each age and sex group needs its own level of classification and this section uses the British 1990 growth reference (UK90) to describe childhood overweight and obesity.
Similarly, 22% of children of obese fathers were themselves obese, compared with 14% of children whose fathers were overweight but not obese, and 9% of children whose fathers were neither overweight nor obese.
61% of children of obese fathers were a healthy weight, compared to 74% of children whose fathers were overweight but not obese. 81% of children were a healthy weight whose fathers were neither overweight nor obese.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
For more data/information on this section:
Adult and child overweight and obesity report: Health Survey for England, 2018