Obesity: children's data

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Child Health Systems Programme School

Information on levels of obesity among primary 1 school children (between 4-6 years of age) is also routinely collected through the Child Health Systems Programme School (CHSP). The statistics are derived from height and weight measurements recorded at Primary 1 health reviews and are available for all NHS Boards. The number of NHS Boards participating in CHSP School and recording reviews has increased since 2000/01, from four to all fourteen NHS Boards in Scotland. This has resulted in an increase in the proportion of children in Primary 1 across Scotland included in the BMI statistics, from approximately 22% in 2000/01, 74% in 2010/11 and 92% in 2014/15.

For the latest data see publication Body Mass Index of Primary 1 Children in Scotland School Year 2020/21  and its associated summary. This publication presents data on Primary 1 school children considered at risk of obesity (defined as BMI greater than or equal to 95th centile) for Scotland as a whole and by NHS Board.

Chart 2 shows the percentage of Primary 1 boys and girls who were at risk of obesity for the years 2000/01 to 2020/21:

• 15.5% of primary 1 children were at risk of being obese.
• A greater percentage of boys were obese than girls (16.2% vs 14.7%).
• The percentage of Primary 1 children at risk of obesity has remained broadly similar over the period at around 9-10% until 2019/20 and then sharp rising by 5.5% in 2020/21.

Please note that the above data is based on epidemiological thresholds for defining obesity. Information on clinical thresholds for defining obesity is also available in the associated Technical Report.