United Kingdom: Prevalence of overweight, weight for height, male (% of children under 5)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, United Kingdom's prevalence of overweight, weight for height, male (% of children under 5) did not change 0 percentage points on 2018 (from 6.3% to 6.3%).

Across the 11 yearly changes before that (2008 to 2018), the average change was −0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.54 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.0 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 14.1 percentage points in 2015 and the biggest yearly fall was 14.5 percentage points in 2016. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2010 to 2019 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains less than 1% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

Closest to United Kingdom in the 2019 ranking

• Zimbabwe — 2nd of 2: 2.9%

What this measures

Prevalence of overweight, male, is the percentage of boys under age 5 whose weight for height is more than two standard deviations above the median for the international reference population of the corresponding age as established by the WHO's 2006 Child Growth Standards.

Limitations: Survey estimates come with levels of uncertainty due to both sampling error and non-sampling error (e.g., measurement technical error, recording error etc.,). None of the two sources of errors have been fully taken into account for deriving estimates neither at country nor at regional or worldwide levels.

All 13 values

More health data for United Kingdom

• Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 4.87% (2025)
• Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 5.29% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female — 5.74 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 16.29% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male — 6.04 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 17.66% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, total — 11.79 million (2025)
• Population ages 0-14 (% of total population) — 16.96% (2025)
• Population ages 05-09, female (% of female population)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is United Kingdom's prevalence of overweight, weight for height, male (% of children under 5)?

6.3% in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2007?

It is down 0.9 percentage points from 7.2% in 2007. The highest value was 20.6% in 2015 and the lowest 6.1% in 2016.

Is the latest change in prevalence of overweight, weight for height, male (% of children under 5) unusual for United Kingdom?

In 2019, United Kingdom's prevalence of overweight, weight for height, male (% of children under 5) did not change 0 percentage points on 2018 (from 6.3% to 6.3%). Across the 11 yearly changes before that (2008 to 2018), the average change was −0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.54 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.0 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SH.STA.OWGH.MA.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: UNICEF, WHO, World Bank: Joint child Malnutrition Estimates (JME). Aggregation is based on UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank harmonized dataset (adjusted, comparable data) and methodology., UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), note: Aggregation is based on UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank harmonized dataset (a… Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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