Objective  To examine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among primary and high school students aged 7 – 15 year in poor stricken areas of Hainan province in the school year of 2016 to 2017 and to provide evidences for developing relevant intervention measures.

  Methods  From September 2016 to June 2017, we conducted a survey among 7 – 15 years old students (n = 4 722) selected using stratified random cluster sampling at 24 primary and high schools with the implementation of National Nutrition Improvement Program for Rural Compulsory Education in 5 poor stricken areas of Hainan province. Height and weight of the students were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated for analyses of overweight and obesity among the students by sex, age, residential areas, and ethnic groups. The overweight and obesity were assessed based on the criterion issued by Working Group on Obesity in China (WGOC).

  Results  The overall prevalence rate of overweight and obesity were 3.60% and 2.01% for all the students; the rate of overweight and obesity were 4.31% and 2.82% for boy students and 2.45% and 1.52% for girl students, with significant between gender differences (P < 0.05). No significant difference in overweight rate (3.35% vs.3.60%) was observed between primary and high school students but the obesity rate of primary school students was significantly higher than that of the high school students (2.25% vs. 1.38%, P > 0.05). There were no significant differences in prevalence rate of overweight (3.67% vs. 3.56%) and obesity (2.28% vs. 1.85%) between the Han and minority ethnic students (both P > 0.05); there were also no significant differences in the two rates (3.50% vs. 3.65% and 2.56% vs. 1.73%) between the students from county schools and township schools (both P > 0.05).

  Conclusion  The prevalence rate of overweight and obesity are low among primary and high school students and the rate are higher among the boy students than among the girl students in poor-stricken areas of Hainan province.