Childhood obesity reaching ‘alarmingly high’ levels in Europe, WHO report warns

Childhood obesity is a major problem in Europe, and it comes with “life-threatening” health risks, a new report warns.

One in four young children are overweight, including one in 10 who are obese, according to the survey from across Europe published by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Those rates are much higher in southern Europe, where nearly one in five children are living with obesity.

Childhood obesity raises the risk of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other chronic conditions in adulthood.

The survey, conducted from 2022 to 2024, included data from about 470,000 children aged six to nine in 37 countries. Researchers collected additional details on family and health behaviours for more than 150,000 children.

Overall, boys are more likely to be obese than girls, 13 per cent to 9 per cent, the study found.

Obesity rates have stabilised in some countries in recent years – but global health officials were not reassured.

“Childhood overweight and obesity remain alarmingly high and continue to threaten the health of current and future generations,” said Kremlin Wickramasinghe, who works on nutrition, physical activity, and obesity issues at the WHO’s Europe office.

The report also found that parents of overweight or obese children tend to underestimate their weight. Overall, 66 per cent of overweight children had parents who thought they were either underweight or normal weight.

Children’s diets were generally poor across Europe. Overall, only 32 per cent of kids ate vegetables every day, for example.

Meanwhile, unhealthy foods were rampant: 41 per cent of children eat sweets, 29 per cent drink soda, and 16 per cent have savoury snacks more than three times per week.

There were differences by socioeconomic status, with children more likely to have healthier diets if their parents were more highly educated.

Notably, nearly all parents said their children were active for at least one hour per day, and 89 per cent of kids got at least nine hours of sleep per night, both factors that are important for children’s health.

However, many children are spending a lot of time on mobile devices, television, and other screens, the report found. Overall, 42 per cent of kids spend at least two hours per day on screens during the week, and 78 per cent get that much screen time on the weekends.

Screen time was higher among boys and children whose parents had lower education levels.

The WHO recommended that countries take steps to create healthier environments for children, including taxes on sugary drinks and unhealthy foods, higher nutritional standards for school meals, and policies to promote exercise.