UK Child Obesity Rises to Nearly 20% for 11 Year-Olds

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Obesity for children in the United Kingdom has reached 19.8% for 10 and 11-year-olds and numbers of obese four- and five-year-olds have also increased, the National Health Service revealed on Thursday.

The number of obese 10- and 11-year-olds rose by 0.7 percent in the last year, according to the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). Overall, more than a third of the age group were deemed overweight based on their body mass index (BMI).

Younger children, four- and five-year-olds, also saw an increase from 9.1 percent in 2015 to 9.3 percent this year.

The study found that obesity rates were higher in boys, although the difference in obesity prevalence between boys and girls was greater in the older age category, with 21.7 percent of boys classified as obese compared with 17.9 percent of girls.

Children from deprived areas were also found to be more than twice as likely to be obese as those from the least deprived areas.

In August, the UK government published its childhood obesity strategy, which was heavily criticized by health organizations and campaigners such as Jamie Oliver for failing to deliver any significant measures to tackle the problem. The strategy pledged to reduce the amount of sugar in products by 20 percent, but will not limit junk food advertising.