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Digital

National Statistics
Publication, Part of

National Child Measurement Programme, Results from the 2006-2007 school year

Official statistics, National statistics, Accredited official statistics
Publication Date:
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Regions, Local Authorities
Date Range:
01 Sep 2006 to 31 Aug 2007

Summary

This report summarises the key findings from the Government's National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP).

The report provides high-level analysis of the prevalence of obese and overweight children, in reception (aged 4 to 5 years) and year 6 (aged 10 to 11 years), measured in the school year 2006/07.

When interpreting the results, it is important to consider the possible effects of participation rate on prevalence rates

 

 

Since the participation rate was less than 100 per cent, data will be missing for certain children. If these missing data were atypical, results could be biased For example, if children with higher BMI scores opted out of being measured, overweight and obese prevalence would be underestimated

Analysis later in the report shows that year 6 prevalence of obese and overweight may be slightly underestimated but that results for reception children are likely to be more robust.

Highlights

  • in total, 876,416 valid measurements were received for children, in England, in reception and year 6 approximately 80 per cent of those eligible
  • this represents an increased participation rate of 32 percentage points from last year's programme, when the corresponding rate was 48 per cent
  • in reception, almost one in four of the children measured was either overweight or obese
  • in year 6, this rate was nearly one in three
  • the prevalence of obesity is significantly higher in boys than in girls
  • in both age groups the prevalence of obesity is significantly higher in year 6 than in reception
  • the percentage of children who are overweight is only slightly higher in year 6 than in reception
  • the percentage of children who are overweight is similar for boys and girls in year 6 - in reception, this rate is slightly higher for boys than for girls.
  • obesity prevalence is significantly higher than the national average in the North East, West Midlands and London SHAs for both school years
  • obesity prevalence is significantly below the national average in the South East Coast, South Central, South West and East of England SHAs for children in both school years, as well as for year 6 children in the East Midlands.
  • SHA obesity prevalence is higher in urban areas than in rural areas
  • there is a strong positive relationship between deprivation and obesity prevalence for children in reception and Year 6

Resources

Related Links

Last edited: 2 November 2018 1:46 pm