Obesity statistics
• In 2011–12, 25.3% of children aged 5–17 years were overweight or obese, comprised of 17.7% overweight and 7.6% obese. The proportion of girls who were overweight was higher than boys (27.1% compared to 23.6%).
• In Australia 19–23% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.
• A study undertaken in 2001 gained significant findings in metropolitan regions of Melbourne. Results indicated a massive 21.2% of children were classified as overweight and a further 6.1% obese.
• In 1997, approximately one in five children in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia were overweight or obese, which was more than double the prevalence in 1985.
• Health of Young Victorians Survey found that 22% of boys and 24% of girls aged between 7–12 years were overweight or obese.
• At the time of the National Nutritional Survey 1995, over 20% of children 7–15 were either overweight or obese. This was double the prevalence of 10 years previous and has continued to rise.
• Victorian longitudinal study focused on children aged 5–10 years reported that for Australian children, 19.35% were overweight or obese at baseline (1997) and the prevalence increased to 24.5% at the follow up (2001).
• A study targeting the Barwon South-Western region of Victoria found 27% of children 4–12 years of age were overweight or obese, suggesting a consistent increase.
• Study on trends in children’s weight status in high and low socio-economic status areas in Melbourne found a significant higher number of overweight and obese children in low SES areas compared to high SES.
• In the above study children from high SES areas 1.7 times more likely to be under/acceptable weight compared to low SES areas.
• 1985, 11.7% of children were overweight or obese compared to 28.8% in 2001.

Diet statistics
• Victorian Health Survey, 2008 found an alarming 90% of Victorians, and more specifically, 87.7% of Geelong residences were not meeting the recommended guidelines for fruit and vegetable consumption.
• Energy density of children’s diets significantly increased between 1983 and 1995.

Socio-economic statistics
• Between 1985 and 2001 there was a slightly higher increases of obesity in low SES children (60%) compared with high SES children (52%).
• National Survey comprising of Australian pre-schoolers confirmed a high prevalence (20%) of overweight/obese children. Children in the bottom quintile of the disadvantage index had 47% higher odds of being in the heavier weight category.
• The 2004 NSW Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey (SPANS) showed that 26% of boys and 24% of girls in NSW aged approximately 5–16 years were overweight or obese, compared with 11% of all young people aged 7–16 years in 1985 (COO 2006).
• In 2013, Victoria was the third lowest paid state in Australia in regards to average weekly earnings.
• Socioeconomic factors are increasingly being recognised as important determinants of childhood obesity, with influences around birth to 7 years of age seen to have long lasting impact on the risk of adult obesity.
• 54.1% of men and 48.1% of females living in Greater Geelong are overweight or obese.
• 5,631 individuals are currently without jobs in the Geelong region.
• 83.3% of women and 15.6% of men are single parenting further straining familial income.