Obesity rates among students slightly increased last year amid growing consumption of fast food and a lack of exercise and rest, a government report showed Sunday.
According to the Education Ministry, 14.3 percent of elementary, middle and high school students were considered obese in 2011. Another 1.26 percent were classified as severely obese.
The ministry studied about 181,000 students from 743 schools nationwide. It said the obesity rate went up 0.05 percentage points from a year earlier and the extreme obesity figure marked a 0.01 percentage point increase from 2010.
Both rates have been on a steady rise over the past three years, the ministry said.
More students are eating more fast food than before, the ministry added, likely contributing to the growing obesity rate.
The report said 57.7 percent of elementary students, 64.4 percent of middle schoolers and 66.3 percent of high school students said they consume fast food at least once a week. The figures represent an annual increase of 3 to 4 percentage points.
The report showed that students exercise and sleep less as they grow up. Whereas more than half of elementary school students said they exercised at least three times a week, only 22 percent of high schoolers said they follow the same routine.
Also, more than 43 percent of high school students sleep no more than six hours a day, compared to about 3.6 percent of elementary school students. (Yonhap)