Less overweight and obesity among children of higher educated parents

Of the children under 12 with lower educated parents, 70 percent had at least one overweight parent, against 59 percent of the children with highly educated parents. For obesity, the respective shares were 30 and 14 percent on average over the period 2018-2021. Of the children with lower educated parents, 54 percent had at least one parent who was a smoker  in the period of measurement. This was 15 percent among children of parents with a high education level.

Three times more obesity among 2 to 11-year-olds with lower educated parents

In the period 2018-2021, 12 percent of children aged 2 to 11 years were overweight and 3 percent obese (severely overweight). Overweight was twice as common among children with lower educated parents as among those with highly educated parents. Of the children with lower educated parents, 6 percent were obese against 2 percent of the children with highly educated parents.

More overweight children among overweight parents

In 2018-2021, overweight and obesity were more prevalent among children aged 2 to 11 years with at least one obese parent compared to those without an obese parent. Twenty-two percent of the children with at least one obese parent were overweight, against 11 percent of the children without an obese parent. Six percent of the children with at least one obese parent were obese themselves, while this was 3 percent among children without an obese parent. Overweight was also more prevalent among children with at least one overweight parent: 15 percent, versus 8 percent of the children without an overweight parent.

Less exposure to tobacco smoke among children of higher educated parents

In the period 2019-2021, 94 percent of the parents of 0 to 11-year-olds stated that their child had (almost) never been exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke (also known as passive smoking) at home. This percentage was higher among higher educated parents (97 percent) than among parents with intermediate (91 percent) and low (88 percent) education levels. In the same period, 1 percent of 0 to 11-year-olds were exposed to indoor tobacco smoke on a daily basis; this was 0.3 percent of children with highly educated parents, almost 2 percent of children with medium-skilled parents and over 4 percent of children with low-skilled parents.

How does CBS obtain these figures?

The results have been taken from the 2018-2021 National Health Survey/Lifestyle Monitor, conducted by CBS, RIVM and the Trimbos Institute. Based on a sample from the Personal Records Database (BRP), people in all age categories were asked to complete a survey on smoking, alcohol consumption, drugs, height and weight, and nutrition. For respondents under the age of 12, the survey questions were answered by a parent or caretaker.