20% of pupils in 4th and 6th class are overweight

Children in disadvantaged communities are becoming overweight and obese as they get older, despite the problem levelling off in the wider childhood population.

The worrying trend has emerged from the latest weight study of the country’s primary pupils, which shows that at least one in five pupils in fourth and sixth classes are overweight or obese.

More than 4,900 children had their weight, height, and body mass index measured in 2015 by the National Nutrition Surveillance Centre at University College Dublin. Their report, published in conjunction with the HSE, shows the results of the fourth such analysis since 2008 as part of the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative.