Healthy weight

Summary

It is well evidenced that being overweight or obese is associated with an increased risk of ill health. For adults, being overweight or obese can lead to coronary heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), liver disease, osteoarthritis, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, and reduces healthy life expectancy.

People who are overweight or obese may also experience low self-esteem, mental health problems, and stigmatisation and discrimination because of their weight. There is also a significant economic impact, with the annual cost of obesity estimated to be as high as around £27bn, with NHS costs estimated at around £6bn, social care costs £352m and sickness absence costs to business estimated to be around £16m.[1]

Being overweight as a child has been associated with a range of health conditions including diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, gallstones, asthma and sleep-disordered breathing, and musculoskeletal conditions. Obese children are more likely to become obese adults and have a higher risk of morbidity, disability and premature mortality in adulthood. There is also evidence of lower school attainment, lower self-esteem and depression amongst overweight and obese children.

Being underweight can also be damaging to health, primarily affecting the immune system and bone strength. As with excess weight and obesity, there can be many causes of underweight including not eating a balanced diet, under-eating, having an overactive thyroid, dieting or having a mental health issue.

A healthy diet and physical activity are key to maintaining a healthy weight in both adults and children.

Interactive report

 

Key findings

Adults

• The Active Lives Survey (2022/23) estimates that 65.7% of the adult population (18+ years) in Lancashire-12 and 72.1% in Blackpool are classed as overweight or obese, significantly above the England estimate of 64%. For Blackburn with Darwen 60.9% are overweight or obese, which is statistically similar to England.
• At a district level, Pendle (72.7%) and Hyndburn (72.4%) have significantly higher proportions of overweight and obesity in adults than England (64%). The other nine authorities are statistically similar to England.
• When considering obesity, Lancashire-12 (28%) and Blackburn with Darwen (31%) and  Blackpool (33.2%) all have statistically significantly worse rates of obesity when compared with England (26.2%).
• At district level in Lancashire-12 Hyndburn (34.4%) has a significantly higher proportion of obesity in adults whilst all other districts are similar to England.

Children

• The 2023/24 National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP)* shows in Lancashire-12 there are 2,870 reception (age 4-5) and 4,770 year 6 children (age 10-11) who are overweight or obese (excess weight). Unless otherwise stated the 2023/24 data is being referenced.

4-5 Year olds

• In Lancashire the proportion of reception-age children who are overweight or obese (23.4%) is significantly higher than England (22.1%), there has been no significant change in the trend for this figure locally despite declines nationally.
• Obesity prevalence in 4-5 year olds is similar to England (9.6%) at 9.3% but again, Lancashire sees no change in trend whilst national levels are declining.
• Just over three-quarters of reception-aged children in the Lancashire-12 area (78.8%) are a healthy weight, significantly worse than England (76.8%), with no change in Lancashire whilst England is seeing an increase in the proportion of children who are a healthy weight.
• In the districts Hyndburn and West Lancashire both have a higher proportion of overweight or obese children when compared with England at 26.3% and 25.2% respectively. In Preston, there is a higher prevalence of underweight children at 1.8% compared to 1.2% in England. Trend data shows no significant change in the proportion of children in each weight category in any of the districts.
• Lancashire's trend data (which shows no change) is not in line with the national picture where there is an increase in health weight and a reduction in overweight or obese children. This includes no change in the underweight category whereas nationally there is an increase in children who are underweight.
• Of the local neighbours Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool (27.4%) also has a significantly higher rate of overweight and obesity, this rate is significantly higher than Lancashire's, whereas BwD is similar to England (20.6%) and lower than Lancashire.
• When compared to it's 15 nearest statistical neighbours, Lancashire's prevalence of  overweight and obese 4-5 year olds is the 3^rd highest. 7 of these local authorities have rates lower than England with Lancashire being 1 of 5 that are significantly worse than England.
• 3-year aggregated data (2021/22-2023/24) similarly shows that Hyndburn (26.1%) and West Lancashire (24.2%) have a higher rate of overweight or obesity than England (21.9%), as do the districts Wyre (23.8%), Rossendale (23.9%), and Burnley (25.4%). Aggregated data also shows that Burnley has a significantly higher rate of obesity in Reception aged children (10.8%) when compared with England (9.6%), the Lancashire rate is similar to England at 9.6%.

10-11 year olds

• For year 6 children in Lancashire-12, 35.5% are overweight or obese, which is similar to England (35.8%), in both Lancashire and nationally the trend data show there has been no change.
• Obesity prevalence is lower in Lancashire (21%) than observed for England (22.1%), again, there is no significant change to this proportion locally or nationally. Severe obesity is increasing in Lancashire though the current proportion (5.1%) is lower than England (5.5%).
• In the districts there is considerable variation, the proportion of overweight and obese children in significantly higher than England in Burnley (40.5%) – where the proportions are continuing to increase, an increase is also observed in Lancaster but other districts have seen no change.
• Further to this, in Pendle and Burnley around 1 in 4 10-11 year olds are obese or severely obese with the latter seeing an increase in this proportion (nationally and for Lancashire there is no change).
• Meanwhile 3 districts in Lancashire have significantly lower proportions of overweight or obese children in this age group (Ribble Valley, South Ribble, and Fylde).
• Local neighbours Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen see significantly higher rates of overweight or obesity in 10-11 year olds (41.7% and 38.8% respectively) when compared with England (35.8%), significantly higher than Lancashire (35.5%) too. Both also see higher rates of obesity, and Blackpool has higher rates of severe obesity. Though trend data shows no increase for any of these weight groupings.
• Lancashire ranks 4^th out of 16 for the proportion of overweight or obese 10-11 year olds when compared to its 15 statistical neighbours, 11 of those local authorities have lower rates of excess weight when compared to England.
• 3-year aggregated data (2021/22-2023/24) shows that Burnley (41.2%), Hynbudrn (39.8%) and Pendle (.8.8%) all have significantly higher proportions of overweight or obese 10-11 year olds than England (36.7%) whilst Lancashire as a whole is statistically similar (36.6%) this aggregated data also shows the same districts have significantly higher rates of obesity and severe obesity at around 1 in 4 children (vs 22.7% for England and 22% for Lancashire).

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the NCMP data collection stopped, so this means for some data periods there may not be data available or counts are so low they are suppressed to avoid potential disclosure in some wards.*

For more details please see NHS Digital's NCMP webpage. For trends, please see the NCMP: trends in child body mass index webpage. 

For additional county, unitary and district data for adults and children and further information please see below. Please select the geography type to see what indicators are available as not all are provided across the different footprints. 

If the area has defaulted to 'Counties & UAs in North East region', click on the down arrowhead next to 'Geography', select 'Region' and then 'North West'. This is an issue which is not within our control, apologies.

* The 2021/22 NCMP was the first data collection since the COVID-19 pandemic that was unaffected by school closures and other public health measures. Over 1.17 million children were measured, which is 92% of all children that were eligible to take part. This participation rate, though high, is lower than pre-pandemic years where participation had been at 95% since the data collection in 2014 to 2015. This is likely to be due to resourcing issues within some local authorities during the pandemic recovery process. 
[1] Public Health England : Making the case for tackling obesity. Why invest? 2015

Page updated May 2024