British children and young people are more likely to be obese, suffer poverty, have a longstanding illness or die from asthma than those of the same age in other countries, according to a new report.
A comparison of the lives of 10 to 24-year-olds in the UK with those of young people in 18 other nations found the UK is lagging far behind on some key markers of health.
The new report, from the Nuffield Trust and the Association for Young People’s Health (AYPH), found that the UK has the highest rates of obesity for 15 to 19-year-olds among 14 European countries, including Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, Greece and Germany.
The UK has some of the highest inequalities in obesity prevalence between the richest and poorest, apart from Finland,
The study also found that England has the highest proportion of young people aged 16 to 24 living with a longstanding health condition, rising from 13.5 per cent of this age group in 2008 to 18.5 per cent in 2016. Read more
