Eyes, teeth and weight by age: what the national school health statistics show
学校保健統計調査（令和7年度）：裸眼視力・むし歯・肥満傾向の年齢別の割合
- Applies to
- All of Japan
- Source last checked
- , Open the Japanese source
- Official source
- 学校保健統計調査－令和7年度の結果の概要（文部科学省、2026年2月13日公表）
Every spring each school runs the legal health check (健康診断, kenkō shindan), which the regulations require by 30 June. The education ministry takes a national sample of those results and publishes them as the 学校保健統計 (gakkō hoken tōkei, school health statistics). The latest edition covers checks held from April to June 2025 (令和7年度) and was published on 13 February 2026. It shows what is common at your child's age before a result slip comes home.
Two headlines from the ministry:
裸眼視力1.0未満の者の割合は、小学校で３割を超えて、中学校で６割程度、高等学校で７割程度となっています。
(more than 3 in 10 elementary pupils, about 6 in 10 junior-high pupils and about 7 in 10 high-school pupils have uncorrected eyesight below 1.0), and tooth decay is at its lowest on record at every school stage.
Eyes and teeth, age by age
Age is the child's age on 1 April, so 6歳 is 小1 and 12歳 is 中1. 裸眼視力 (ragan shiryoku) is eyesight without glasses or contacts. むし歯 (mushiba) counts children with any decayed tooth, treated or not.
| Age (grade) | Eyesight below 1.0 | Any tooth decay | Of which: decay still untreated |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 (年長) | 23.90% | 19.44% | 12.46% |
| 6 (小1) | 24.09% | 24.41% | 15.24% |
| 7 (小2) | 27.39% | 30.70% | 16.83% |
| 8 (小3) | 32.24% | 36.12% | 18.43% |
| 9 (小4) | 38.41% | 36.82% | 17.83% |
| 10 (小5) | 44.07% | 31.99% | 15.15% |
| 11 (小6) | 48.03% | 24.56% | 11.27% |
| 12 (中1) | 53.52% | 23.09% | 9.65% |
| 13 (中2) | 59.44% | 25.03% | 9.88% |
| 14 (中3) | 64.91% | 27.51% | 10.69% |
| 15 (高1) | 71.47% | 28.28% | 10.32% |
| 16 (高2) | 71.19% | 33.27% | 12.09% |
| 17 (高3) | 71.89% | 36.91% | 13.82% |
Source: 令和7年度学校保健統計, e-Stat table 4, all schools, boys and girls together.
What the table shows: eyesight below 1.0 rises every year through elementary and junior high and levels off in high school. Tooth decay peaks around 小3–小4, falls through 小5–中1, and rises again in high school. At the peak, close to 1 child in 5 has decay that has not yet been treated.
Weight: how the school measures it
The survey calls a child 肥満傾向児 (himan keikōji, tending to overweight) when their weight is 20% or more above the standard weight for their sex, age and height, and 痩身傾向児 (sōshin keikōji, tending to underweight) when it is 20% or more below it:
肥満度・痩身度＝［実測体重（kg）－身長別標準体重（kg）］／身長別標準体重（kg）×100（％）
| Age (grade) | Boys over +20% | Girls over +20% | Boys under −20% | Girls under −20% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 (年長) | 2.66% | 3.06% | 0.22% | 0.20% |
| 6 (小1) | 4.10% | 4.53% | 0.40% | 0.70% |
| 8 (小3) | 8.68% | 7.86% | 1.12% | 1.14% |
| 9 (小4) | 11.59% | 8.93% | 1.59% | 1.77% |
| 11 (小6) | 13.24% | 10.16% | 3.70% | 3.09% |
| 12 (中1) | 12.68% | 9.46% | 3.44% | 4.46% |
| 14 (中3) | 10.39% | 7.71% | 3.07% | 3.46% |
| 17 (高3) | 10.98% | 8.34% | 3.41% | 2.38% |
The ministry's summary: the overweight share is highest around age 11 for both boys and girls, and for boys it is above about 1 in 10 from age 9; the underweight share rises until about age 10 and then stays near 3%. The full table has every age from 5 to 17.
What the school sends you after the check
The rules for the health check are in the enforcement regulations of the School Health and Safety Act (学校保健安全法施行規則). Within 21 days the school must tell the child and the guardian the result and act on it. One of the listed actions is
必要な医療を受けるよう指示すること
(directing the child to get the medical care needed). Other actions on the same list include further tests, lighter or changed exercise, and adjusting the desk or changing the seat. What a result slip looks like, and how to return it, is in after the school health check.
How to read these numbers
A national rate is a picture of a year group, not a verdict on your child. When the school check directs a child to care, it is the eye doctor or the dentist you then visit who examines your child and advises. For weight, the 肥満度 is a formula on height and weight only; it says nothing about what a child eats or how active they are.
What to do now
- When the result slip comes home, read which check it is about and what it asks you to do. Book the eye doctor or the dentist the slip names.
- Ask the clinic to fill in the school's form, and send it back by the date on the slip.
- If your child is in 小3–小4, the peak years for tooth decay in the table, book a regular dental check even without a slip.
- If eyesight is flagged, ask the eye doctor whether glasses are needed for the blackboard. Tell the 担任 (tannin, homeroom teacher) so seating can be adjusted; seat changes are on the regulation's list of follow-up actions.
- If the school mentions weight, ask the school nurse (養護教諭, yōgo kyōyu) what the 肥満度 figure was and what, if anything, they suggest.
Your child's dates, not the general ones
Add your child and ward. The timeline does the rest.