Figures show a rise in obesity among city's schoolchildren

One in nine Leeds children in the first year of primary school was obese last year.

- by Harriet Sutton

The Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of health organisations, said the data is at odds with the Government's target of creating the “healthiest generation of children ever”.

The recent National Child Measurement Programme shows some 8,215 Reception children in Leeds were measured in 2024-25, with about 905 (11 per cent) found to be obese. It was an increase from 9.1 per cent the year before.