Living conditions of children 2014–2015:
Children skip breakfast
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2016-06-14 9.30
Three out of ten children skip breakfast at least once a week. This is more common among older children, of whom four out of ten choose to do so. These are the findings among children aged 12 to 18, according to Statistics Sweden's survey about living conditions of children.
To have the energy needed for a day at school or for activities during the weekend, it can be important to receive energy from a nourishing breakfast. Even so, 30 percent of children between ages 12 and 18 choose to skip breakfast at least once a week.
This is more common among the older children. Among those aged 16-18, 41 percent do so at least once a week, compared to 21 percent among those who are aged 12-15. There are no differences between girls and boys.
Not as many young people skip lunch. The share here is 17 percent, and applies to both girls and boys regardless of age.
Source: Living Conditions Survey of Children, Statistics Sweden
Perhaps this could be a reason why some children are tired at school. Seven out of ten children (69 percent) have felt tired during their school day at least once a week during the most recent six months.
However, tiredness differs among the sexes. Among girls aged 16-18, 82 percent have felt tired at least once a week, compared to 67 percent among boys of the same age.
New statistics on children
Now all the information from the survey Living conditions of children 2014-2015 has been published on Statistics Sweden's website www.scb.se/barnulf under the heading Tables and graphs.
Among other things, the information concerns children's health, situation in school, spare time, media habits and household chores they help out with.
Definitions and explanations
In the presentation of "at least once a week", the children have answered Every day, A few times a week or Once a week to the following questions:
- During the last six months, how often have you skipped breakfast?
- How often have you skipped lunch?
- How often have you been tired in school?
Before these questions are asked, an introductory text explains this applies to the last six months.
The differences that are taken up are statistically significant. (The graph illustrates the confidence interval as a line with the lowest and highest values in the interval, while the bars show the estimated value in the middle.)
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.