Overview

• Government data shows 36% of primary school leavers were overweight or obese in 2023-24, up from 33% in 2009-10.
• Royal Society for Public Health modelling projects rates will climb to 41% nationally by 2034-35 with increases in 136 of 151 local authorities.
• Nine councils, led by Blackpool (54%) and Knowsley (52%), are forecast to have a majority of overweight or obese 10- and 11-year-olds by 2035.
• Childhood obesity heightens lifelong risks including diabetes, high blood pressure, certain cancers and poor mental health.
• Campaigners say successive governments’ failure to regulate ultra-processed food companies has worsened obesity in England’s most deprived areas.