13% of Students in Seoul Public Schools Obese

One out of every eight elementary, middle and high school students in Seoul is obese, the results of an annual school health survey released yesterday said, urging comprehensive measures for weight control.

The Seoul School Health Promotion Center polled 8,624 elementary, middle and high school students on obesity. Of the students, 13.1 percent or 1,133 students were classified as obese.

“Excessive nutrition, lack of exercise and stress coming from increasing study have fueled the growing number of obese students,” said a center source.

The center picked 18 schools in Seoul, or six elementary, middle and high schools each.

In determining whether someone was obese, health organizations compared weight with height. They first deducted 100 from one’s height and multiplied the resulting figure by 0.9.

If one’s final figure exceeded the standard weight by 21 to 30 percent, this was classified “mildly obese.” A figure 31 to 50 percent higher than the standard weight meant “moderately obese,” and 50 percent higher “severely obese.”

Among those students categorized as being obese, 6.9 percent or 600 were mildly obese; 5.3 percent or 453 moderately obese; and 0.9 percent or 80 severely obese. The number of obese students was higher than that in 2006, when 985 students or 12.2 percent among 8,106 surveyed were found to be obese.

Elementary school students were most obese with 13 percent or 566, followed by middle school students with 10.9 percent or 220, and high school students with 15.3 percent or 347.

Overall male obese students outnumbered their female counterparts. In elementary schools, 16.3 percent or 365 boys were obese while 9.6 percent or 201 girls were.

In middle schools, 14.8 percent or 155 of boys surveyed were obese, while the corresponding girl figure was 6.8 percent or 65.

High schools saw 19.3 percent or 210 male students obese and 11.5 percent or 137 female students as the same.

Over the past two decades, the average height of a sixth-grade boy has grown 7.3 centimeters and his weight has risen 10.6 kilograms.

The corresponding figures for a third-year middle school boy were 6.1 centimeters and 10.1 kilograms. For a high school senior, the figures went up 3.8 centimeters and 6.1 kilograms, respectively.

ceric@donga.com