Obesity and Myopia Are Primary Health Concerns Among Chinese Children: Survey

Obesity remains a top problem among Chinese youth as the 2014 National Fitness Survey revealed, according to a report by China Daily.

The survey, released on Wednesday, Nov. 25, was jointly conducted by the Ministry of Education and the General Administration of Sport of China.

With information from 347,294 students with ages ranging from 7 to 22 from 31 provinces, the report concluded that obesity rate among Chinese students has continually risen since 2005.

In a sample of students aged 7 to 12 living in urban areas, 18.71 percent of boys were found to be obese. The same goes for 9.71 percent of girls. The current data reflects an increase since the 2010 survey.

"Apart from the influence of improved nutrition and living standards, children are becoming fatter mainly because of a lack of exercise," said Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Child and Adolescent Health at Peking University, in an interview with China Daily.

"Although one hour of exercise for each student could be guaranteed in schools, heavy after-school tutoring still takes up majority of their spare time."

Although the Chinese government has implemented measures to increase sports participation in recent years, access to better food is also considered a culprit behind the rising obesity rates in the country.

The 2014 National Fitness Survey also revealed another problem among younger children: myopia.

According to the report, nearly 30 percent of boys and over 32 percent of girls aged 7 were found to have myopia. Figures are indicative of a slight increase from the 2010 survey. 45.71 percent of these students go to primary school.

"It's horrible that children are already poor-sighted when they just start to go to school or even before," said Xing Wenhua, head of the student fitness research group associated with the Ministry of Education.

The situation gets worse, as numbers rose to the mid-80 percent range in high school and college.