School-aged children and adolescents 

Childhood overweight and obesity is rising while the number of children suffering from thinness are declining.

The period of middle childhood and adolescence (i.e. from 5 to 19 years) is a chance to seize the second window of opportunity to address early childhood deficits and establish lifelong dietary habits that support nutritional well-being today and for future generations. Historically, undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies have been the most prevalent forms of malnutrition among children and adolescents worldwide. Since 2000, there has been a steady decline in the prevalence of thinness in children aged 5-19 years, but this progress is accompanied by a rapid rise in childhood overweight and obesity. These changing patterns of malnutrition reflect profound and rapid shifts in the diets of children and adolescents across the world.

Globally, one in five children and adolescents aged 5-19 years – a staggering 391 million – are living with overweight. Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and North America rank in the top three regions for the prevalence of overweight across all age groups. However, the burden (i.e., numbers of children and adolescents affected) is concentrated in East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and South Asia; these three regions account for more than half of all children and adolescents aged 5–19 years who are living with overweight globally (223 million out of 391 million).

Between 2000 and 2022, the global prevalence of overweight almost doubled among children aged 5–9 years (11 per cent to 21 per cent), adolescents aged 10–14 years (12 per cent to 21 per cent) and adolescents aged 15–19 years (9 per cent to 16 per cent). In terms of numbers affected, there were twice as many children and adolescents aged 5–19 years living with overweight in 2022 than in 2000 (increasing from 194 million in 2000 to 391 million in 2022). During the same period obesity – a severe form of overweight has increased at a faster rate than overweight among school-age children and adolescents. Globally, 8 per cent of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years were living with obesity in 2022, compared with just 3 per cent in 2000. Consequently, obesity now represents a larger share of all overweight cases: in 2022, 42 per cent of all children and adolescents aged 5–19 years living with overweight had obesity (163 million out of 391 million), up from 30 per cent in 2000 (58 million out of 194 million).