WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative: overweight and obesity among 6–9-year-old children. Report of the third round of data collection 2012–2013 (2018)

Surveillance data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents are essential to inform the development of effective policies and strategies to tackle the challenge of childhood obesity in the WHO European Region. In response to this need, the WHO Regional Office for Europe established the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) in 2007.

The third round of data collection took place during the 2012–2013 school year and included assessment of more than 250 000 primary school-aged children in 19 countries and collection of information about the participating schools. In addition, 17 of the countries collected further data on the school environment, and 11 countries collected data on family diet and physical activity.

The systematic collection of these data and their analysis enable intercountry comparisons and a better understanding of the progression of childhood overweight and obesity in Europe, clearly showing that childhood obesity remains a major public health problem in the WHO European Region.