94% of Hong Kong students are couch potatoes, 17.5% overweight, study shows

2026.03.17 12:50 Secondary school students on their smartphones while having meal. Photo: Elson Li About 94 per cent of Hong Kong’s students do not get enough daily exercise and 17.5 per cent are overweight, authorities have warned, urging schools and parents to tackle the growing fitness crisis together. The government report released on Tuesday also flagged low fruit and vegetable intake, poor vision health and excessive recreational screen time among students. The findings were based on surveys and annual health assessments conducted by the Department of Health for the 2024-25 school year, covering about 428,000 primary and secondary pupils in Hong Kong. The department said 17.5 per cent of students were overweight, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous school year. The problem was slightly more prevalent among secondary school students, at 17.9 per cent, than primary school students, at 17.2 per cent. “Being overweight during childhood and adolescence adversely affects health and is associated with a greater risk and earlier onset of various non-communicable diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, a community medicine consultant for the department. Dr Chuang says childhood and adolescent obesity can also have adverse psychosocial consequences, affecting how students perform at school and their quality of life. Photo: Yik Yeung-man “Childhood and adolescent obesity can also have adverse psychosocial consequences, affecting students’ school performance and quality of life,” she said at a briefing. “It requires us to face this squarely with comprehensive, sustained action – improvement won’t happen overnight,” she added. By comparison, authorities in mainland China reported an overweight or obesity rate of around 20 per cent among school-aged children, while in Singapore it was 13 per cent in 2024. The government said 256,000 primary and 172,000 secondary school students completed self-administe

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