One in 10 children in first year of primary school in England is obese

Data from the National Child Measurement Programme found 10.5% of children in Reception and more than a fifth in Year 6 (the last year of primary school) were obese in 2024/25, with boys more likely to be overweight than girls.

Excluding the peak during the first year of the pandemic, this is the highest obesity prevalence seen in Reception year since records began in 2006/07, and is higher than the 9.6% in 2023/24.

Some 13% of children in Reception, when youngsters are aged four and five, are also overweight, meaning almost one in four of all children in this age group are overweight or obese.

For children in Year 6, obesity prevalence (22.2%) is similar to last year, when it was 22.1%.

Some 13.9% are overweight in Year 6, meaning more than one in three children in this age group (age 10 and 11) are overweight or obese.

Overall, 1.1 million children were measured at state-maintained schools as part of the data collection.

Some 75.4% in Reception and 62.2% in Year 6 were a healthy weight.

When it came to analysing severe obesity from the overall obesity figures, 2.7% of girls and 3.1% of boys in Reception were severely obese.

This means 2.9% of all children were severely obese, up on 2.6% the previous year.

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In Year 6, 4.5% of girls and 6.6% of boys were severely obese, meaning 5.6% of all children were. This is similar to the 5.5% the previous year.

Experts said further years of data are needed to determine whether this is the start of a long-term increase in obesity prevalence in Reception year.

The new report said children from black ethnic groups are more likely to be living with obesity, while children from Indian ethnic groups are more likely to be underweight.

Obesity prevalence continues to be more than double in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas for both Reception children (14.0% compared to 6.9%) and Year 6 (29.3% compared to 13.5%).

This "deprivation gap" has been increasing since the early years of data collection, the report said.