Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) Factsheet. Highlights 2015-17 (2018)

The WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (or COSI) is a unique system that for over 10 years has measured trends in overweight and obesity among primary school aged children. COSI involves taking standardized weight and height measurements from over 300 000 children across the WHO European Region every three years. This provides nationally representative data for participating countries, as well as a large Region-wide data set for analysis of the determinants of childhood overweight and obesity. This vital collaboration between the World Health Organisation and research institutions from across Europe provides high-quality data that is needed to inform policy and practice in response to the problem of childhood overweight and obesity.