Increase in underweight children recorded in new figures

A number of underweight children in England has risen slightly, new figures suggest.

Some 1.1% of reception-aged children are underweight, up from 0.9% in 2020/21, data from the National Childhood Measurement Programme (NCMP) shows.

And 1.5% of year six children are underweight, compared to 1.2% in 2020/21.

It comes after a study found that more than a quarter of children are on diets, including those of a healthy weight.

The study, involving more than 34,000 youngsters in England, found a rise in the proportion of children as young as eight trying to lose weight.

The research, from the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, found a “significant increase over time” in the proportion of children reporting weight-loss attempts, from 21.4% in 1997/98 to 26.4% in 2015/16.

The new figures from the NCMP also show a decrease in the proportion of obese youngsters.

Obesity prevalence among four and five-year-olds in reception classes decreased from 14.4% in 2020/21 to 10.4% in 2021/22.

And obesity in year six children aged 10 and 11 fell from 25.5% in 2020/21 to 23.5% in 2021/22, according to the interim findings published by NHS Digital.

The proportion of children who were deemed to be overweight, but not obese, also fell between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Among reception children, it fell from 13.3% to 12.5% and among year six pupils it fell from 15.4% to 14.4%.

Commenting on the latest figures, Tam Fry, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said: “These figures should be read together with yesterday’s data from the Health Survey for England showing that overweight children really are trying to shift significant amounts of fat.

“The end-of-year NCMP report should not be dramatically different and this will be good news indeed.”