The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health published its State of Child Health 2026 report on 14 July. The document records little improvement and, on several measures, outright deterioration since its predecessor in 2020.
Across 12 indicators spanning infant mortality, immunisations, obesity, mental health, asthma admissions and others, the data paint a consistent picture. Infant mortality in England stood at 3.9 per 1,000 live births in 2023 with scant progress. Rates in the most deprived areas remain more than twice those in the least deprived. One in five children aged 8 to 16 now shows a probable mental health disorder, up from 12.5 percent in 2019.
Obesity or overweight affects 36.2 percent of 10- and 11-year-olds. Again, prevalence is roughly double in deprived communities. MMR vaccination uptake by age five has slipped to 84 percent, well short of the World Health Organisation's 95 percent target. Asthma emergency admissions rose to 147.9 per 100,000 in 2023/24, reversing earlier gains.
Since the last iteration of State of Child Health (published in 2020), very little has improved and, on some indicators, the situation has deteriorated.
Dr Helen Stewart, officer for health improvement at the RCPCH, delivered that verdict in the report's foreword. The findings confirm what many frontline paediatricians have observed for years. Centralised public health campaigns and successive government initiatives have failed to arrest the slide. The UK now lags comparable western European nations on several measures.
Professor Steve Turner, president of the RCPCH, put the challenge plainly.
Collectively, we must do better, and we must do it sooner.
The report identifies widening inequalities as a dominant theme. Children in deprived areas and from ethnic minority communities experience the poorest outcomes. The gap is not narrowing. It is growing. Official statistics repeated across multiple indicators reveal the same pattern: postcode and family circumstances continue to dictate life chances with striking precision.
