How many children in Sweden have obesity?

Proportion of children with overweight and obesity by age group

The latest compilation from Folkhälsomyndigheten (the Public Health Agency of Sweden) shows the following for Swedish children:

• 18 months: Approximately 8 per cent have overweight or obesity.
• 4 years: Approximately 11–12 per cent have overweight or obesity. Following an increase during the pandemic (13.3 per cent in 2022), levels have returned to pre-pandemic rates.
• 6–9 years: Approximately 23 per cent have overweight or obesity — 15.6 per cent overweight and 7.2 per cent obesity (academic year 2021/2022). See the difference between overweight and obesity for what the threshold means clinically.
• 11–15 years: Approximately 15 per cent have overweight or obesity, of which 3.4 per cent have obesity.

Comprehensive national statistics for children aged 10 and above are currently lacking. Elevhälsan (school health services) measures and weighs all children, but not all municipalities report data centrally.

Trends over time

Among 11–15-year-olds, the proportion with overweight and obesity increased from 7 per cent in 1989/1990 to 15 per cent in 2021/2022. The prevalence of obesity quadrupled over the same period, from 0.8 to 3.4 per cent.

Among 6–9-year-olds, an increase of approximately 2 percentage points was observed between 2018/2019 and 2021/2022, with the rise primarily driven by a higher proportion of children with obesity.

Differences between boys and girls

Among the youngest schoolchildren (6–9 years), overweight is more common in girls, whereas obesity is slightly more common in boys. At 9 years of age, 13.6 per cent of boys had obesity compared to 11.5 per cent of girls. During adolescence, the gender pattern shifts — overweight and obesity are generally more common among teenage boys than teenage girls.

Regional differences

There are marked geographic differences. Among 6–9-year-olds, Värmland, Gävleborg and Jönköping had the highest proportions of overweight and obesity, while Västerbotten had the lowest. Jönköping had the highest proportion with obesity specifically (9.8 per cent), while Uppsala had the lowest (5.1 per cent).

There is also a gradient whereby smaller towns and rural municipalities have a higher prevalence than larger cities.

The link to socioeconomic factors

Childhood obesity is unequally distributed. A 2024 study following over 300,000 Swedish four-year-olds demonstrated that overweight in children is more prevalent in regions with higher proportions of single parents, lower education levels and lower income levels. These disparities trace back to the parental generation — among pregnant women, the proportion with overweight or obesity increased from 25 per cent in 1992 to 47 per cent in 2024.

What the statistics mean in practice

Behind the figures lies a substantial and growing need for treatment of childhood obesity. Societal costs for children with overweight or obesity at age 15 are estimated at a lifetime 7 billion SEK for the entire annual cohort — but above all, it concerns the children’s health and quality of life. Early identification and treatment make a difference: research shows that children who return to a healthy weight before adulthood do not have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.

Related questions

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