Publication, Part of National Child Measurement Programme

National Child Measurement Programme, England, 2023/24 School Year

Official statistics, National statistics, Accredited official statistics

Publication Date:: 5 Nov 2024
Geographic Coverage:: England
Geographical Granularity:: Regions, Local Authorities

This publication for the 2023/24 School Year is the last to be produced by NHS England.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will be responsible for publishing the accredited official statistics report from the 2024/25 School Year, and have announced the planned publication date for the 2024/25 report.

Please see t he NCMP report series page for additional details.

27 May 2025 17:00 PM

Part 5: Deprivation (based on postcode of the school)

For NCMP, we provide deprivation data based on both where the child lives and where the child attends school. Deprivation based on where the child lives is more accurate since sometimes children attend schools in areas with different relative deprivation compared to where they live.

Part 4 of the report uses the deprivation decile of the child postcode as the main analysis of the current year, but only has time series data from 2013/14. This is due to issues with the quality and completeness of the child postcode in the early years of NCMP. This section uses the deprivation decile of the school and has a longer time series, from 2006/07.

The NCMP data collection was most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020/21 see Data Quality Statement Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the NCMP. The 2019/20 NCMP collection was incomplete as no measurements were taken after March 2020, when schools were closed as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data quality work on the 2019/20 data indicated that the deprivation data presented in the gap analyses is comparable with earlier years and suitable to use as a pre-Covid-19 pandemic reference point.

The deprivation gap is defined as the difference in the prevalence figures between those children in the most deprived decile and least deprived decile.

How has deprivation been defined?

Deprivation for 2023/24 data has been defined using the English Indices of Deprivation 2019, commonly known as the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). For previous collection years, the IMD that was current at the end of the collection year has been used.

IMD is the official measure of relative deprivation for Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in England and ranks every LSOA in England from 1 (most deprived area) to 32,844 (least deprived area). Deprivation deciles are calculated by ranking the 32,844 neighbourhoods in England from most deprived to least deprived and dividing them into 10 equal groups. These range from the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods nationally to the least deprived 10% of neighbourhoods nationally.

For further information see: English indices of deprivation 2019

Reception – deprivation gap for obesity

Among reception children attending schools in the most deprived areas, the prevalence of obesity increased from 12.2% in 2006/07 to 19.7% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This decreased to 12.2% in 2022/23, and then increased to 12.7% in 2023/24. This is similar to 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

In the least deprived areas, the prevalence of obesity increased from 7.7% in 2006/07 to 9.1% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This decreased to 6.5% in 2023/24, which is similar to 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

Between 2006/07 and 2023/24 the deprivation gap for reception children attending schools in the most and least deprived areas increased by 1.7 percentage points. It was higher in 2020/21.

For children attending schools in the most deprived areas, the prevalence of obesity among girls increased from 11.3% in 2006/07 to 12.6% in 2023/24. The prevalence of obesity among boys remained similar in 2023/24 at 12.8%, compared with 13.0% in 2006/07.

In the least deprived areas, the prevalence of obesity decreased among girls from 7.0% in 2006/07 to 6.4% in 2023/24, this is an increase compared to 2022/23 (5.9%). The prevalence of obesity decreased among boys from 8.3% in 2006/07 to 6.7% in 2023/24.

Overall, the increase in the deprivation gap over time was similar for boys and girls.

Reception - deprivation gap for severe obesity

For children attending schools in the most deprived areas, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 3.6% in 2006/07 to 7.4% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This decreased to 3.8% in 2022/23, and then increased to 4.1% in 2023/24. This is similar to 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

In the least deprived areas, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 1.5% in 2006/07 to 2.2% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This decreased to 1.4% in 2023/24, which is similar to 2019/20 when it was 1.3% (pre-pandemic).

Over time, the deprivation gap for children attending schools in the most and least deprived areas has remained similar.

For children attending schools in the most deprived areas, the prevalence of severe obesity among boys increased from 4.0% in 2006/07 to 8.1% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This then decreased to 4.5% in 2023/24 which is higher than 4.0% in 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

The prevalence of severe obesity among girls increased from 3.2% in 2006/07 to 6.6% in 2020/21, the main year of the Covid-19 pandemic. This then decreased to 3.7% in 2023/24, which is similar to 3.8% in 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

In the least deprived areas, the prevalence of severe obesity among boys increased from 1.7% in 2006/07 to 2.6% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This then decreased to 1.5% in 2023/24 which is greater than 1.3% in 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

The prevalence of severe obesity among girls increased from 1.2% in 2006/07 to 1.8% in 2020/21, the main year of the Covid-19 pandemic. This then decreased to 1.2% in 2023/24, which is similar to 1.3% in 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

For both boys and girls, the prevalence of severe obesity was around three times higher in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas.

Over time, the deprivation gap has remained similar for both boys and girls.

Year 6 – deprivation gap for obesity

For children attending schools in the most deprived areas, the prevalence of obesity increased from 21.5% in 2006/07 to 32.1% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This decreased to 29.9% in 2022/23 and then again to 28.9% in 2023/24. This is still higher than 2019/20 (pre-pandemic) when it was 27.2%.

In the least deprived areas, the prevalence of obesity increased from 13.0% in 2006/07 to 15.5% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This decreased in 2023/24 to 14.7%, but is still higher than 2019/20 (pre-pandemic) when it was 13.9%.

Between 2006/07 and 2023/24, the deprivation gap for year 6 children attending schools in the most and least deprived areas increased by 5.6 percentage points as the prevalence of obesity increased more in the most deprived areas.

For children attending schools in the most deprived areas, the prevalence of obesity increased among girls from 20.1% in 2006/07 to 27.9% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This decreased in 2023/24 to 26.1%, however it is still higher than 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

For boys, the prevalence of obesity increased from 22.9% in 2006/07 to 36.0% in 2020/21, the main year of the Covid-19 pandemic. This decreased in 2022/23 to 33.0% and then again in 2023/24 to 31.6%. However, this is still higher than 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

For children attending schools in the least deprived areas, the prevalence of obesity increased in girls from 11.1% in 2006/07 to 13.2% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. It remained similar in 2023/24 at 12.9%, which is still higher than 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

For boys, the prevalence of obesity increased from 14.7% in 2006/07 to 17.6% in 2020/21, the main year of the Covid-19 pandemic. This remained similar in 2022/23 at 17.2%, but has decreased in 2023/24 to 16.5%. This is similar to 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

Over time the deprivation gap increased more for boys than girls.

Year 6 - deprivation gap for severe obesity

For children attending schools in the most deprived areas, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.8% in 2006/07 to 9.5% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This decreased in 2022/23 to 9.0% and then decreased again in 2023/24 to 8.6%, which is still higher than 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

For children attending schools in the least deprived areas, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 1.7% in 2006/07 to 2.3% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This increased to 2.6% in 2021/22 and has remained similar in 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Between 2006/07 and 2023/24, the deprivation gap for children attending schools in the most and least deprived areas increased by 2.8 percentage points to be 5.9 percentage points due to the prevalence of severe obesity increasing more in the most deprived areas.

For children attending schools in the most deprived areas, the prevalence of boys living with severe obesity increased from 5.4% in 2006/07 to 11.6% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This then decreased to 10.7% in 2022/23 and then decreased again to 10.1% in 2023/24. This is still higher than 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

The prevalence of girls living with severe obesity increased from 4.3% in 2006/07 to 7.4% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This remained similar at 7.0% in 2023/24, and is higher than 5.9% in 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

For children attending schools in the least deprived areas, the prevalence of boys living with severe obesity increased from 2.1% in 2006/07 to 2.7% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This then remained similar in 2023/24 at 3.1%, which is higher than 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

The prevalence of girls living with severe obesity increased from 1.3% in 2006/07 to 1.9% in 2020/21, the year most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This remained similar at 2.2% in 2023/24, which is higher than 2019/20 (pre-pandemic).

Overall, since 2006/07, the deprivation gap has increased more for boys than girls.

Last edited: 27 May 2025 5:00 pm