Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (‎COSI)‎: Physical activity habits of children aged 6-9 in the WHO European region (2020)

This factsheet describes physical activity habits of children aged 6-9 years, using data from 25 countries participating in the 4th round of COSI (2015-2017, n=150,651 children). Physical activity levels vary widely between countries.

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 Organization and research institutions from across Europe provides high-quality data that is needed to inform policy and practice in response to the challenge of childhood overweight and obesity.