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Child Measurement Programme for Wales

The Child Measurement Programme for Wales measures the height and weight of children in Reception class.

We want to learn how children in Wales are growing so that NHS Wales can better plan and deliver health services.

Public Health Wales is responsible for the coordination of the Child Measurement Programme and every health board across Wales is taking part in the programme.

Latest Results

  • This report summarises the key findings of the Child Measurement Programme (CMP) for the 2022/23 academic year. 
     
  • All children aged 4-5 years attending reception class and residing in Wales were offered routine height and weight measurements by school nursing teams. These data are reported Nationally to facilitate surveillance. 
     
  • At an all Wales level the proportion of children with a healthy weight was 74.3%, statistically significantly higher than pre-pandemic. 
     
  • At all Wales level the proportion of children with overweight or with obesity were 13.4% and 11.4% respectively, both statistically significantly lower than pre-pandemic. 
     
  • The proportion of children with obesity in Wales was higher than those reported for England and Scotland. 
     
  • Children residing in the least deprived ‘deprivation fifth’ according to postcode of residence were statistically significantly less likely to have obesity compared with all other deprivation fifths.