Students enjoy outdoor activities at the playground of a elementary school in eastern Seoul on May 1, 2019. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The prevalence of obesity among South Korean teenagers has doubled over a period of 15 years, with related socio-economic inequality deepening.
A research team led by Kim Hyun-chang, a professor at Yonsei University College of Medicine, analyzed big data on 818,210 middle and high school students who participated in the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s Youth Health Behavior Survey.
The analysis showed that the prevalence of obesity rose from 5.9 percent in 2006 to 11.7 percent in 2020.
Of special note, the prevalence of obesity among students from low-income households, whose parents have low educational attainment, or who live in rural areas increased at a faster rate, indicating the deepening of socio-economic inequality.
The research team pointed out that such inequality is a new phenomenon that has developed during the past 10 years.
The inequality in terms of teenage obesity was influenced the most by their father’s education level among socio-economic indicators, followed by their mother’s education level and household income.
The inequality of obesity rates resulting from the socio-economic gap was starker among female students than male students.
When it came to the relative index of inequality (RII) value, female students had higher values in the categories of household income (1.3 vs 2.5), father’s education (1.8 vs 3.2), and mother’s education (1.5 vs 2.6).
For the RII, a value higher than 1 indicates a higher level of inequality.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
