The WHO found that more than half of children in Malta were not members of any sports club. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Young girls in Malta are the third-most obese when compared to countries from all over Europe, with 15 per cent of seven-year-olds having excessive weight, the World Health Organisation has found.

Fresh data presented to the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna showed that last year, 15 per cent of girls aged seven were obese, with 35 per cent being regarded as overweight.

The situation was no less bleak for boys of the same age, the WHO found, with 18 per cent of them being obese. The data also confirms results from a local study published last year which found that 40 per cent of Maltese children were overweight.

“Obesity in children remains an important public health problem in the WHO European Region and it is unequally distributed within and between countries and population groups. Childhood obesity is a multifactorial disease associated with a wide range of serious health and social consequences including a higher risk of premature death and disability in adulthood,” the organisation noted in its report as part of the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI).

The WHO also analysed the children’s lifestyle behaviours, finding that of the countries analysed, children in Malta were the second most-likely to go to school in motorised vehicles. According to the figures, 72 per cent of children in Malta used this mode of transport to go to school, with the rate only being higher in Portugal, where 76 per cent of students made use of such transport.

Only 19 per cent of the students walked or cycled to school, the study found, the lowest rate among the countries under review.

“Active transportation, such as walking or cycling, is associated with higher levels of physical activity and cardiovascular fitness but in many countries the proportion of children walking or cycling to or from school has been declining,” the organisation noted in its report.

On any other physical activity patterns, the WHO found that more than half of the children in Malta were not members of any sports clubs or enrolled in dancing courses. Of all children, 66 per cent were however found to spend at least an hour every day running, jumping or playing some form of fitness games.

The WHO also found that almost half of young children in Malta spent at least two hours per day watching television or using electronic devices.

claire.caruana@timesofmalta.com