Childhood obesity becomes a global pandemic

For the first time in history, more children worldwide are living with obesity than with underweight. It is a milestone that should have made front pages everywhere. It largely did not.

The KidsRights Index 2026 research shows that 391 million school-age children are currently overweight. This is double the number from the start of this century. And behind that number is something even more uncomfortable. This is not only a health crisis. It is a child rights crisis. One that governments are legally obligated to address, and are largely failing to.

Who is most affected? Why is blaming families and individuals not just wrong but actively harmful? And what does the law actually require of the countries that ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?

Our new longread digs into all of it. Read about the systems that are failing children, the data gaps that should not exist in 2026, and why young people themselves need to be part of the solution.