Health Survey for England, 2016

The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the nation's health; estimating the proportion of people in England who have specified health conditions, and the prevalence of risk factors and behaviours associated with these conditions.

The surveys provide regular information that cannot be obtained from other sources. The surveys have been carried out since 1994 by the Joint Health Surveys Unit of NatCen Social Research and the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL.

The survey samples cover the population living in private households in England. In 2016 the sample contained 8,011 adults and 2,056 children and 5,049 adults and 1,117 children had a nurse visit.

Key facts:

Adult overweight and obesity

• 26 % of men and 27% of women were obese. the proportion of adults who were obese has been similar since 2010.
• Being overweight was more common than being obese and 40% of men and 30% of women were overweight, but not obese.

Overweight and obesity in children

• 16% of children aged 2 to 15 were obese and a further 12% of children were overweight (but not obese).

Physical Activity in adults

• 66% of men and 58% of women aged 19 and over met the aerobic activity guidlines of at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous per week or an equivalent combination of both, in bouts of 10 minutes or more.