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Digital

National Statistics
Publication, Part of

Health Survey for England - 2007, Latest trends

Official statistics, National statistics, Survey, Accredited official statistics
Publication Date:
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Country, Regions, Strategic Health Authorities
Date Range:
01 Jan 2007 to 31 Dec 2007

Summary

The Health Survey for England is a series of annual surveys designed to measure health and health-related behaviours in adults and children living in private households in England. The survey was commissioned originally by the Department of Health and, from April 2005 by The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. Since 1994, the survey has been carried out by the National Centre for Social Research and the Department of Epidemiology at University College Medical School.

The trend tables focus upon key changes in core topics and measurements. The number estimates presented here for the first time convert the prevalences in the key trend tables into estimates of the numbers of people in the population in England that they represent.

Detailed findings for 2007 are reported in the main report: Health Survey for England 2007: Healthy lifestyles: knowledge, attitudes and behaviour.

Highlights

Among adults aged 16 and over:

  • obesity levels increased (from 13 per cent for men and 16 per cent for women in 1993 to 24 per cent for both men and women in 2007) as did diabetes (from 2.9 per cent for men and 1.9 per cent for women in 1994 to 5.6 per cent for men and 4.2 per cent for women in 2007)
  • smoking rates continued to decline (falling from 28 per cent in 1993 to 24 per cent in 2007 for men and from 26 per cent to 21 per cent for women)
  • data was not collected on adults' participation in physical activity in 2007, but between 1997 and 2006 the percentage of adults meeting recommendations rose from 32 per cent to 40 per cent for men and from 21 per cent to 28 per cent for women
  • for both men and women the proportion who consumed five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day increased; from 22 per cent in 2001 to 27 per cent in 2007 among men, and from 25 per cent to 31 per cent among women

Among children:

  • among children aged 5-15, 21 per cent of both boys and girls consumed the target of five portions of fruit and vegetables per day in 2007 (up from 11 per cent in 2001)
  • however, more boys (72 per cent) than girls (63 per cent) met the government recommended targets for physical activity with the proportion steadily declining for girls older than the age of nine
  • among boys and girls aged 2-15, the proportion who were obese increased overall between 1995 and 2007; from 11 per cent in 1995 to 17 per cent in 2007 among boys, and from 12 per cent in 1995 to 16 per cent in 2007 among girls

(Please note that this publication incorporates the delayed Health Survey for England, 2006, Latest trends: Population number estimates (delayed from June 2008) and also the new Population number estimates for 2007)

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Last edited: 8 February 2022 1:01 pm