More than a quarter of Wales' four and five-year-olds are overweight - with more than one in 10 classed as obese, say public health officials.

Merthyr Tydfil tops the league for weight issues in young children, with 34% regarded as overweight. Public Health Wales looked at the Body Mass Index (BMI) of just over 1,000 children starting primary school - with a BMI over 25 considered unhealthy.

Across Wales, 26% were over that BMI - while in England it was just 22%.

The average figures for Wales are also higher than the worst region of England - which is the north-east, where 24% of four and five-year-olds have slipped into the overweight BMI zone.

Source: BBC

 

 

What is the Problem?

In Wales 26% of the population under the age of 18 is obese. This is 2% more than England and even 8% more than in America, yet the British government continue to tell us that childhood obesity in Wales is not a problem. The statistics are shocking, even more so when you realise that the habits picked up as children can affect you in later life. We know something needs to be done about this issue, but what? The government is not doing anything that is bringing these ridiculous statistics down so we must take matters into our own hands.

See our What We Do page to see how we are raising awareness for childhood obesity in Wales and doing something to stop it.

Credit to childhoodobesitywales for the statistics.

Showing obesity rates throughout the world.

The obese children in England and Wales