Children in Latvia are quickly losing their health. What are the authorities doing about this?

As schoolchildren themselves admit, they mostly learn information about various health issues on social networks, rather than in class.

A 2022 study from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control found that only a quarter of teenage boys and less than a fifth of girls say they are in excellent health. The most common problems children report are back pain and difficulty falling asleep. The increasing use of drugs, for example, against headaches, is also causing concern. As throughout the world, more and more children in Latvia are suffering from overweight and obesity: statistics show that in the group of 11-year-old boys this figure is 30%, in girls this figure is lower – 21%. Since 2002, the number of children who eat breakfast in the morning has decreased by 20% – now it is only half. Regular consumption of fruits and vegetables is also not included in the range of healthy habits: less than a fifth of 15-year-old schoolchildren eat some kind of fruit at least once a day, and a quarter eat vegetables. The situation with the abuse of sweetened carbonated drinks and sweets has improved, as they are no longer allowed to be sold in schools and legislation also restricts the sale of energy drinks to minors. True, the number of smokers of electronic cigarettes has increased significantly, especially among girls 13-15 years old.

At the same time, the volume of physical activity is falling: only a fifth of boys and a seventh of girls engage in sports for at least 60 minutes every day. Most people spend their free time relaxing, lying on the couch, walking around supermarkets and shopping, or meeting with friends. At the same time, communication with peers often occurs through gadgets. About 70% of 15-year-old girls and 60% of boys spend three or more hours surfing the Internet every day. There are currently no plans to return the subject of health to the curriculum as a separate subject; instead, at the primary school stage, relevant topics are integrated into seven different subjects.

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