Question reference: S4W-24577
- Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 23 February 2015
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Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 4 March 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) male, (b) female and (c) child obesity rates it recorded in each year from 2007 to 2014.
Answer
Obesity prevalence information is published in the Scottish Health Survey. The survey has run annually from 2008. The latest published information is for the 2013 survey.
The percentage of men and women aged 16 and over classified as ‘obese’ (BMI 30 or higher) in each year is as follows:
| % obese | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Men | 26.0 | 26.9 | 27.4 | 27.7 | 26.6 | 24.9 |
| Women | 27.5 | 27.6 | 28.9 | 27.6 | 27.5 | 29.3 |
The percentage of children aged two to 15 classified as ‘at risk of obesity’ (BMI at or above the 95th percentile) in each year is as follows:
| % at risk of obesity | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Children | 16.6 | 16.4 | 16.1 | 17.2 | 16.8 | 16.0 |
Child height and weight data is also collected in Scottish schools at the Primary 1 review. This data is used by Information Services Division (ISD) to produce BMI statistics, including the proportion of Primary 1 children at risk of obesity. Information on the BMI distribution (including at risk of obesity) of children in Primary 1 (aged approximately 4.5 to 6.25 years) is published on ISD’s website at: