Cheshire area with England's worst obesity rate for kids starting primary school

It has the highest obesity levels for children aged four to five

Gary Porter Content Editor for Cheshire

06:00, 07 Nov 2025

Runcorn town centre, part of Halton borough(Image: Liverpool Echo)

An area of Cheshire has the worst obesity rate in England for children starting primary school, latest figures reveal. It comes as one in 10 children in the first year of primary school in England are classed as obese – the highest figure on record outside the pandemic.

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Data from the National Child Measurement Programme found 10.5% of children in Reception and more than a fifth in Year 6 (the last year of primary school) were obese in 2024/25, with boys more likely to be overweight than girls. Excluding the peak during the first year of the pandemic, this is the highest obesity prevalence seen in Reception year since records began in 2006/07, and is higher than the 9.6% in 2023/24.

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Halton topped the list in England for reception kids - aged four to five - with the highest obesity levels. It also had the county's highest figure for Year 6 children - and was ranked 25th in the overall list for England. You can see the rates the other Cheshire local authority areas in the full list below.

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Overall, 1.1 million children were measured at state-maintained schools as part of the data collection. Some 75.4% in Reception and 62.2% in Year 6 were a healthy weight. When it came to analysing severe obesity from the overall obesity figures, 2.7% of girls and 3.1% of boys in Reception were severely obese. This means 2.9% of all children were severely obese, up on 2.6% the previous year.

In Year 6, 4.5% of girls and 6.6% of boys were severely obese, meaning 5.6% of all children were. This is similar to the 5.5% the previous year. Experts said further years of data are needed to determine whether this is the start of a long-term increase in obesity prevalence in Reception year.

The new report said children from black ethnic groups are more likely to be living with obesity, while children from Indian ethnic groups are more likely to be underweight. Obesity prevalence continues to be more than double in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas for both Reception children (14.0% compared to 6.9%) and Year 6 (29.3% compared to 13.5%).

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