New data has revealed that four in 10 children in Greece are considered overweight.

The findings, which relate to the period of 2015 to 2017, were presented last week in Vienna by the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) at a conference of the European Association for the Study of Obesity.

When it comes to overweight children, Greece has emerged with one of the worst records in Europe. Among primary school age children, 42 per cent of boys and 38 per cent of girls are overweight, with 20 per cent of boys and 14 per cent of girls classified as obese.

Overall in the region, when it comes to boys, Cyprus has the highest percentage of children that are overweight, with 43 per cent of primary school age boys overweight.

Joining Greece in second place are Italy and Spain, with 42 per cent of boys overweight.

Cyprus also has the highest number of young girls that are overweight with 43 per cent. Spain is second with 41 per cent, while Greece and Italy are equal third with 38 per cent.

While the figures are concerning, COSI did highlight that they are noticing a trend in a more positive direction in Greece, with the rates of being overweight and obesity among young children dropping.