Childhood obesity to hit a third by 2025

A QUARTER of all Australian children are overweight or obese and that figure could reach 33 per cent by 2025 unless kids get more active.

A group of sporting ambassadors will today urge Australians to get moving after it emerged that 81 per cent of children aged 5-17 are not active enough.

Essendon captain Dyson Heppell, Australia’s most capped female cricketer Alex Blackwell, soccer star Kyah Simon and Paralympian Danni Di Toro will lead a push to improve participation.

The elite quartet has teamed with the inaugural Prime Minister’s Sporting Oration, to be staged in Melbourne later this month, to encourage business leaders to fund grassroots programs.

It comes amid shock findings that 66 per cent of Aussie adults are overweight or obese, with 67 per cent of men and 74 per cent of women set to lose the battle of the bulge by 2025.

Women’s sporting participation is half that of men in Victoria, with 21 per cent of males and 11 per cent of females getting enough exercise.

Former Aussie cricket captain Blackwell called for urgent change to address childhood inactivity.

“Right now our children are not physically active enough,” she said.

“And another fact is that this will be the first generation that will be literally slower than their parents, not being able to run as fast and will have a lower life expectancy.”

Research to be presented at the Prime Minister’s Oration by former PM Julia Gillard on November 21 shows physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of chronic health problems in Australia.

Without intervention, it is believed Australia could face $88 billion in extra health costs over the next decade.