ONE in nine North-East children is obese when they start school – the second worst record in England.

And that proportion has doubled to more than one in every five youngsters by the time they leave primary school, shocking figures show.

The NHS statistics triggered a fresh warning that Britain’s obesity epidemic is “getting worse by the day and steadily spiralling out of control”.

The figures show 10.8 per cent of four and five-year-olds in the North-East are classified as obese, rising to 22.1 per cent of ten and 11-year-olds.

Of the English regions, only London has more youngsters so overweight that their health is at risk – 10.9 per cent and 22.5 per cent respectively.

And parts of the North-East have an even deeper crisis for obese Year Six children – including County Durham (22.5 per cent), Hartlepool (24.5 per cent) Sunderland (23.9 per cent) and Newcastle (24.9 per cent).

The picture is less worrying in North Yorkshire, where seven per cent of the younger age group are obese and 14.7 per cent of older children.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre, which compiled the data, linked soaring obesity rates with a decline in healthy eating and a lack of exercise.

Graham Rowan, of the Obesity Management Association charity, said: “The obesity epidemic is getting worse by the day and steadily spiralling out of control.”

Worryingly, almost half of parents in England whose children are obese wrongly thought they were “about the right weight”.

The Department of Health (DoH) insists the government – and food businesses - are taking action to make it “easier for people to make better choices”.

Researchers measured around 28,000 reception age children in the North-East and almost 25,000 in Year Six. Around 10,000 were examined in North Yorkshire, in total. The figures are based on body mass index.

Large proportions of children were also found to be overweight – but not obese – including 13.7 per cent of four and five-year-olds in the North-East and 14.9 per cent of ten and 11-year-olds.

Recently, health minister Anna Soubry sparked controversy by claiming poorer children were more likely to be obese, blaming their parents.

But researchers at Leeds Metropolitan University found those in “middle-affluent” areas of the city were more likely to be very overweight.