Visualizing Child Obesity Measures in the United Kingdom

The latest obesity data from the national child measurement program (NCMP), overseen by Public Health England (PHE), highlights the concerns of health advocates attempting to problem solve the socio-economic inequalities correlating with child poverty in the UK. The key statistically significant observation of the correlation shows obesity in the most impoverished areas are more than twice their more affluent neighbors, as well as correlations between low local-social relationships and childhood obesity in two London Burroughs, Lambeth & Southwark.


Lobbying efforts by the PHE and community charities are currently targeting the availability of government-subsidized sugary foods, including an emergency call to the food industry to immediately eliminate at least 20% of sugar-centric calories in everyday foods consumed regularly by children.

About the Research Deliverable:

The objective of the deliverable focused on helping community researchers use visual analytics with geospatial capabilities to help answer questions like:

  • How well has my community performed since 2008 when it comes to graduating Year 6 children to the next phase of school?
  • How well has my community performed since 2008 when it comes to graduating Year 6 children to the next phase of school? Who does well? Who struggles?
  • What interesting correlations bubble to the surface?
  • What can we learn about child poverty rates, local social relationships, and the relation to child obesity in the UK?