An increasing number of school-age boys in Finland are overweight or obese, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) said on Friday.
Thirty percent of elementary school boys were overweight or obese last year, up from 26 percent in 2017. In high schools, the proportion of overweight or obese boys increased from 27 percent to 30 percent over the same period.
No significant change was observed in the proportion of overweight or obese girls.
A total of 29 percent of boys aged 2-16 were classified as overweight or obese last year, compared to just 18 percent of girls of the same age.
High-energy food and drinks
“The statistics don't include lifestyle data, so we aren't able to assess the reasons for the increase in overweight in boys,” said THL Development Manager Päivi Mäki.
"There are likely several factors related to lifestyle and living environment that lie behind this increase in childhood obesity. For example, there are plenty of energy-intensive foods and drinks on offer, and a sedentary lifestyle has become more common for both children and adults," she said.
Significant regional differences
The THL noted that there were large differences between the proportions of overweight or obese children and young people by municipality, which ranged between 13–57 percent of boys and 11–39 percent of girls.
The statistics are based on height and weight measurements for more than 360,000 children, gathered at childcare clinics and school health care. The 2020 data covered 41 percent of youngsters aged 2-16.
However, the corona epidemic affected the number of health check-ups in clinics and school healthcare last year. According to THL's database report, child health clinic visits decreased by almost seven percent while school health care visits dropped by 21 percent compared to 2019.
Children with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 or more were defined as overweight or obese, while those with BMI of 30 kg/m2 or more were categorised as obese.
