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WHO warns: Childhood obesity reaches alarming levels in Europe

2025-11-07 08:42:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Childhood obesity rates have stabilized in some countries in recent years, but global health officials said they are still too high.

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

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

These rates are much higher in Southern Europe, where nearly one in five children live with obesity.

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

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

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

Obesity rates have stabilized in some countries in recent years, but global health officials have not been complacent.

"Overweight and obesity in children remain at alarming levels 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 percent 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 percent of children ate vegetables every day, for example.

Meanwhile, unhealthy foods were widespread: 41 percent of children eat sweets, 29 percent drink carbonated drinks, and 16 percent eat salty foods more than three times a week.

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

Notably, almost all parents said their children were active for at least an hour a day, and 89 percent of children slept at least nine hours a night, both factors that are important for children's health.

However, the report found that many children are spending too much time on mobile devices, television and other screens. Overall, 42 percent of children spend at least two hours a day on screens during the week and 78 percent spend the same amount of time in front of screens on weekends.

Screen time was higher among boys and children whose parents had lower educational 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 physical exercise./ CNA