The National Institute of Statistics (INE) released on 27 July the results of the children's module carried out in the 4th quarter of 2025, within the scope of the National Health Survey, and highlights that almost half (44.7%) of children aged six to 14 regularly consume fast food or ultra-processed foods.

INE states that 81,000 children consume sugary soft drinks and 49,000 consume fast food or ultra-processed foods daily.

"The consumption of this type of food is a daily habit for 5.3% of children aged 6 to 14, while 7.1% do so between four and six times a week and 32.3% between one and three times a week," the note says.

Consumption of soft drinks

On the other hand, more than half of these children (51.1%) only consume these products once a week and 3.6% do not consume them at all.

Regarding soft drinks and other sugary beverages, the INE says that it is "a daily practice for 8.9% of children aged 6 to 14 and very frequent (4 and 6 times a week) for 6.2%".

"Most children, however, consume these drinks less than once a week (33.6%) or do not consume them at all (19.4%)," it emphasises.

Daily fruit consumption

Nevertheless, the results show that daily fruit consumption is a habit for 68.6% of children aged six to 14, mainly for children aged six to nine (73.3%), and that regular consumption of animal or vegetable protein is a common practice for most children of these ages (68.0%).

However, almost four out of ten children aged five to 14 were overweight or obese, with almost 132,000 obese children (12.9%) and another 230,000 (22.6%) overweight.

“While in the overweight category, the prevalence was quite balanced in the distribution by sex and age group (with proportions between 22% and 23%), obesity registered significantly higher proportions in males (15.0%) than in females (10.7%) and, especially, in children aged 5 to 9 (18.3%),” says INE.

Overweight by region

Analysis by region shows that the combined prevalence of overweight and obesity is highest in the Azores Autonomous Region (42.3%), followed by the North (40.5%) and Madeira (40.3%). The lowest values ​​are recorded in the Setúbal Peninsula (31.2%) and Greater Lisbon (31.3%).

Healthy children

Globally, “92.3% of children under 15 years of age have a reported health status of good or very good”, and allergies are the disease that most affects children under 15 years of age (14.9%), while attention deficit hyperactivity disorder affects 6.8% and speech and communication disorders affect 5.9% of children.

Almost two in ten children (18.9%) had their abilities to perform tasks considered usual for their age affected by illnesses or health problems, and almost half (44.7%) of children between six and 14 years of age missed school due to illness.

There are 58,000 blind children and 13,000 with hearing loss.

The children's module is integrated into the National Health Survey for the first time and is based on information collected from the parents of children under 15 years of age.

The study focused on a representative sample of 3,907 children residing in Portugal, with data collected between September and December 2025 through face-to-face interviews, by telephone and via the Internet.