African children are the healthiest in the world: they narrowly surpass those in Europe and far surpass those in America.
This result comes from a pooled analysis of data from 33 countries that examined what proportion of children ages three to five get enough exercise, sleep, and spend time away from computer screens, televisions, or smartphones.
While Europe, which includes the United Kingdom, recorded that just over half of children were getting enough exercise, data specific to Britain alone suggests that only a tenth of children actually get the recommended level of physical activity.
Young people in Africa fared best overall, with about one in four (23.9 percent) doing the recommended exercise, screen breaks and sleep.
Europe came in second, with 23.5 percent of children meeting this benchmark.
Young people in Africa fared best overall, with about one in four (23.9 percent) getting the recommended exercise, screen breaks and sleep.
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The Americas, which include North American countries such as the United States and South America, performed the worst, with fewer than one in 10 (7.7 percent) achieving this level of health.
Children in this region were mostly disappointed by their sedentary time, periods of sitting still (and used as a measure of screen time), with only 17 percent taking enough breaks, the proportion lowest of any region analyzed.
The second worst overall results were for children in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand and Indonesia, (9.1 percent), followed by those in Western Pacific nations, Australia and New Zealand (12.4 percent).
The analysis, published in the journal JAMA Pediatricswas carried out by a multinational team of experts led by people from the University of Wollongong in Australia.
They analyzed data collected from just over 7,000 children from 33 countries aged between three and almost five years old who had been taken between 2008 and 2022.
Children’s exercise levels were measured using activity monitoring devices, while screen time and sleep time were measured using parent reports.
The experts then looked at how many children met World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on child health by global region.
For exercise, this included spending at least three hours a day in physical activity, of which one hour had to be “moderate to vigorous,” such as running. There are guidelines that the NHS also adheres to.
For screen time, the WHO’s recommended threshold was just one hour per day, and young children also aimed to sleep between 10 and 13 hours.
While the analysis did not look at individual country results specifically, a separate WHO analysis published earlier this year suggested that British children are far behind their contemporaries when it comes to physical activity.
This data showed only that 30 per cent of girls and 18 per cent of boys in England are inactive across all age groups surveyed, while in Wales the figure is 27 per cent for girls and 17 per cent for boys. cent for the children.
In Scotland, 21 per cent of girls are inactive, along with 12 per cent of boys.
For comparison, the overall result of the WHO European region for physical activity in the latest analysis was 53.5 percent, half of the group of the six regions analyzed.
When it comes to exercise, North and South America have the best combined result, with nearly three-quarters (72.8 percent) of children meeting daily exercise needs.
But the overall results were worrying: Globally, fewer than one in six children (14.3 percent) meet all three recommendations, according to the analysis.
Things are even worse for girls: only 12.8 percent meet the recommended thresholds, compared to 16.8 percent of boys.
More than one million children have had their height and weight measured under the National Child Measurement Program (NCMP). Nationally, the rate among Year 6 children stands at more than a third, despite having fallen slightly since Covid began.
Most of the girls seemed disappointed by the exercise levels. Globally, less than half (41.7 percent) of girls got enough daily exercise compared to more than half (55.6 percent) of boys.
The authors noted that this could be, in general, because parents tend to offer boys more “freedom” than girls to allow them to play with less supervision.
Overall, the authors said the results, while subject to limitations such as sample size and the self-report nature of screen use and sleep duration, were concerning.
“Early childhood is recognized as a critical opportunity to establish healthy movement behavior patterns that are important for health and well-being throughout life,” they wrote.
“Our finding of a low proportion of children meeting general WHO guidelines in all countries and regions raises important implications for the future health of the population if more measures are not taken to address this problem.”
It is well proven that getting enough exercise improves physical and mental health and, in the long term, helps prevent health problems such as obesity.
The latest data on childhood obesity in England shows that one in 10 children are too fat when they start primary school, a figure rising to around one in four by Year 6.
Among sixth-form pupils, national obesity fell from 23.4 per cent in 2021/22 to 22.7 per cent. Meanwhile, the proportion of children considered overweight or obese also decreased, from 37.8 percent to 36.6. Both measures are above pre-pandemic levels
Experts have pointed to a lack of exercise and poor diets high in ultra-processed foods as key factors in the UK’s childhood obesity epidemic.
The authors noted that the worst results were recorded in the Americas and theorized that this was due, in part, to higher levels of digital device ownership in the region.
They added that recent reviews of parents’ views on children’s screen time had found that many view devices as a necessity in this technological age and often use such devices as a distraction or reward for children. children.
The authors noted that this highlighted the importance of educating parents about healthy screen use and setting limits on children’s technology use.
Children who spend too much time using screens have been linked to a range of health and behavioral problems, from vision problems to emotion regulation.
