Introduction:

Childhood obesity is a recognized public health problem. The present work reports the changing prevalence of childhood overweight/obesity in Spanish boys and girls over the period 1993-2011, and examines the risk factors apparent in 2011.

Methods:

Children with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥ 25 were deemed overweight, and those with a BMI of ≥ 30 were deemed obese. Overweight and obesity was consistently more common among boys than among girls.

Results:

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Spain increased over the study period.

Conclusions:

According to the 2011 data, children who undertook no physical activity, or whose parents/guardians had a low level of education, showed the highest prevalence of obesity.

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