healthcare & pharmaceutical

2 in 5 Children in India do not have a healthy BMI

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2 in 5 Children in India do not have a healthy BMI
Key findings

Sportz Village’s 13th Annual Health Survey (AHS) has revealed alarming gaps in the fitness and well-being of school-going children across India. Conducted annually since 2010, the survey aims to analyze and evaluate the health and fitness levels of children in schools across India. The 13th edition of the survey, powered by EduSports, assessed 1,16,650 children aged 7 to 17 years across 85 locations, highlighting the urgent need for structured physical education programs in schools.

The EAST REGION has emerged with the second-best performance showcasing an overall fitness in a total of 56.40% of children, showing notable strengths in Upper body strength (54%), Lower body strength (46%), and Flexibility (77%).

The survey highlights that a higher percentage of children from the NORTH REGION have shown extremely poor performance, recording the lowest percentages in three out of seven fitness parameters. The region performed the weakest in Lower body strength (35%), Abdominal strength (81%), and Anaerobic capacity (58%), underscoring significant areas for improvement in these key fitness indicators.

The performance of children from the SOUTH REGION has been a mixed bag. A higher percentage of children have performed well in the parameters of BMI (60.12%), Aerobic capacity (31%), Anaerobic capacity (62%), and Abdominal strength (87%), while showing areas of improvement in Upper body strength and Flexibility.

WEST REGION has performed the best when compared to all other regions with higher percentage of children performing exceptionally well in the parameters of Upper body strength (58%) Lower body strength (60%), Anaerobic capacity (81%), Abdominal strength (93%), Aerobic capacity (52%) & Flexibility (81%).

Key findings of the survey denote:

  • 2 in 5 children have an unhealthy BMI.
  • 3 in 5 children lack adequate Lower body strength.
  • 1 in 3 children have insufficient Flexibility.
  • 3 in 5 children do not meet the required Aerobic capacity.
  • 1 in 5 children have inadequate Abdominal or core strength.
  • 2 in 5 children lack sufficient Anaerobic capacity.
  • 3 in 5 children do not have adequate Upper body strength.
  • A higher proportion of girls (62.23%) maintain a healthy BMI compared to boys (57.09%).
  • Girls outperformed boys in Flexibility, Abdominal strength, Anaerobic capacity, and Upper body strength, whereas boys performed well in the parameters of Aerobic capacity and Lower body strength

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