Leeds & Childhood Obesity

With a population of 750,000 Leeds is the second largest authority in the country with 1 in 5 residents who live in poverty. The reality is that children born today in Leeds’ most disadvantaged neighbourhoods can expect to die almost twelve years earlier than those in areas of Leeds which enjoy the best health. (Leeds City Council, 2008) Approximately 1 in 4 of Leeds children are overweight and 1 in 8 children are obese. Given there are approximately 180,000 0-19 year olds in Leeds we can estimate that approximately 45,000 children are overweight and of these 22,500 are obese (Rudolf et al 2005-10, Leeds Childhood Obesity Prevention and Weight Management Strategy 2006 - 2016 ) DAZL specializes in delivering tailored dance provision to help with prevention and tackling issues around obesity