Children and young people are central to London’s future. Their health, education, safety and opportunities are shaped by family circumstances, neighbourhoods and access to services. This chapter examines outcomes for children and young Londoners across a range of indicators. Further metrics related to the health and wellbeing of children and young people are covered in the Health chapter, and the wider determinants of health are covered in other chapters (e.g. pollution exposure in the Environment chapter).
Health and education
This section provides indicators on the health and learning outcomes of children and young people in London, including: rates of obesity; self-reported happiness; school readiness at age 5; and Attainment 8 (GCSE) performance.
21.1% of London’s children in Reception class (age 4-5) were classified as overweight or obese in 2024/25, below the percentage for England which was 23.5%. This is similar to the previous year when it was 20.9%, but lower than before the pandemic in 2019/20 when it was 21.6%.
By Year 6 (age 10-11), the prevalence of obesity in children is consistently higher, at 37.3% in London and 36.2% in England in 2024/25.
Higher rates were seen among deprived Londoners, with 25.9% of children in Reception classified as obese or overweight in the most deprived decile compared to 16.0% in the least deprived decile. This inequality widens for children in Year 6, at 44.0% in the most deprived decile and 25.7% in the least deprived decile. Similarly, the rates vary by London borough, with the highest rates for Year 6 children in Southwark (44.3%) and the lowest in Richmond upon Thames (23.6%).
Comparing rates of overweight or obesity by sex in London, there is no significant difference at Reception age, but by Year 6 the rate is significantly higher for boys (40.1%) than girls (34.3%).
The average happiness score (out of 10) for children in Years 3-11 in London in 2024/25 was 6.97, similar to England’s which was 6.93. This has remained relatively stable, although it has decreased slightly overall since 2017/18 when it was 7.13 in London.
In London the score was highest among Other ethnic groups (7.39) and White British children (7.12) and lowest for Black children (6.68), and higher for boys (7.29) than girls (6.77).
Children are defined as having a Good Level of Development (GLD) if they are at the expected level for the 12 early learning goals within five areas of learning relating to: communication and language; personal, social and emotional development; physical development; literacy; and mathematics.
In 2024/25, 70.7% of pupils in London achieved a GLD by age 5, compared to 68.3% in England. This is an increase over the last three years for both London and England.
When broken down by various characteristics – ethnicity, first language, eligibility for free school meals, those with SEN support needs – London pupils do at least as well, and in most cases better, than those in England overall with the same characteristics. There are still differences between these sub-groups, however, with Chinese, Indian and Mixed White and Asian children most likely to achieve a Good Level of Development (GLD) in London.
In 2024/25, 58.9% of children in London eligible for free school meals (FSM) achieved a GLD by age 5, compared to 74.3% among children not classed as eligible for FSM. A lower proportion of Black children achieved a GLD by age 5 (62.9%), compared to their White (73.8%), Mixed ethnicity (73.4%) and Asian (72.8%) counterparts.
Attainment 8 score is a measure of a student's overall achievement at GCSE, summing grades in eight key subjects with Maths and English double-weighted, with a maximum score of 90.1 The average Attainment 8 score for London’s pupils is consistently higher than that for England, and in 2024/25 it was 50.5 compared to 46.0 in England.
London pupils do better than those across England as a whole, on each element of the Attainment 8 score and across almost all attributes from ethnicity to free school meal (FSM) status. The exception is that London’s Black pupils had slightly lower average Attainment 8 scores than Black pupils for England as a whole.
In London in 2024/25, there were inequalities in Attainment 8 scores by sex, ethnicity, first language, Free School Meal (FSM) eligibility, Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disadvantaged status:
Among ethnic groups, Asian pupils achieved the highest average Attainment 8 score (56.2) and Black pupils the lowest (45.9).
Pupils whose first language was English achieved a slightly lower average Attainment 8 score (50.3) than those who have a first language other than English (51.2).
Pupils who are eligible for FSM achieved a lower average Attainment 8 score (42.0) compared to all other pupils not classed as eligible for FSM (54.4).
These inequalities broadly mirror those observed nationally, with some differences in magnitude. The exception is ethnicity: while Asian pupils achieve the highest Attainment 8 scores in both London and England, White pupils have the lowest average nationally, compared with Black pupils in London.
Safety
This section draws on data from MOPAC’s Youth Survey about whether children and young Londoners feel safe at school, in the area they live, and online.
In 2021/22, 88% of young people aged 11-16 in London reported that they felt safe at school, an increase from 84% in 2018. 76% of young people reported that they felt safe in the area they live, a small increase from 74% in 2018. There was also an overlap between these locations, with 5% of the sample reporting that they felt unsafe both at home and at school in 2021/22. This reveals a small but potentially vulnerable group of young Londoners growing up in the capital without a sense of safety across either of these locations.
Certain groups of young people were less likely to say they felt safe at school and in their local area, including those from older age groups and those from Black or Mixed ethnic backgrounds. Importantly, young people who had attended a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU)2 were also significantly less likely to feel safe in their school (74%) than those who had not attended a PRU (90%).
In the most recent survey in 2021/22, approximately four in five (81%) of young people reported that they felt safe online.
Opportunities
This section provides a selection of indicators about whether children and young Londoners have opportunities to do well at school and to progress into work. These include: pupil absence at school; the number of young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET); and the proportion achieving Level 3 qualifications.
126,000 16–24-year-olds3 in London were Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) in Q4 2025, equivalent to 12.0%. This was a decrease of over three percentage points from a year earlier in Q4 2024 when it was 15.2%, and lower than the England average of 13.3%.
The proportion of young adults in London that were NEET fell between 2012 and 2016, with the introduction of the Raising the Participation Age policy in 2013, but then stabilised, and then fell again as more young people stayed on in education during the pandemic. Following the pandemic, at both the national and London levels, the percentage of young adults that were NEET increased. While the latest datapoint suggests an improvement in London, data quality concerns mean this needs to be interpreted with caution.
In 2024/25, 68.7% of young people in London had achieved a Level 3 (two A-levels or equivalent) qualification by age 19, higher than the England average which was 57.4%. The proportion has decreased slightly in recent years in London, down from 70.8% in 2021/22.
Looking at the long-term trend, the proportion achieving a Level 3 qualification has increased substantially in London rising from 50.1% in 2007/08. The gap between London and England has also increased over time, rising from four percentage points in 2007/08 to over 11 percentage points in 2024/25.
Overall school absence rates in London increased rapidly during the pandemic4 , from 4.5 per 100 pupils in 2020/21 to a peak of 7.0 per 100 pupils in 2022/23. Absence rates have since decreased to 6.3 per 100 pupils in 2024/25. The absence rate in London is lower than that in England which was 6.8 per 100 pupils in 2024/25. Although the overall absence rate has improved over the last year, there has been a steady increase in the persistent and severe absence rates, defined as missing 10% or 50% of possible school sessions respectively.
The overall absence rate in London in 2024/25 varied by school type and was highest for special schools (12.6 per 100 pupils), followed by state-funded secondary (7.2 per 100 pupils) and lowest for state-funded primary schools (5.3 per 100 pupils). Different rates of absence are observed according to pupil characteristics, for example in 2024/25 in London:
The rate was higher for Free School Meal (FSM) eligible pupils (8.7) than those not eligible for FSM (5.3).
Special Educational Needs (SEN) pupils had a higher rate (9.1) compared to those with no SEN (5.6).
The rate also varied by ethnicity, with the lowest rate being among Black pupils (5.5) and highest among Unclassified (7.6) and Mixed ethnicity pupils (7.0).
The suspension rate in London schools increased from 5.0 per 100 pupils in 2022/23 to 5.7 per 100 pupils in 2023/24, continuing an upward trend since the pandemic (2019/20: 2.6 per 100 pupils). The suspension rate has been consistently higher in England and there was a more rapid increase to 11.3 per 100 pupils in 2023/24.
The rate of suspension for pupils in London in 2023/24 varied substantially by pupil characteristics, including by ethnicity, FSM-eligibility, and SEN status:
Black pupils (8.6) had the highest suspension rate among pupils, over four times the rate for Asian pupils (2.1), which is the lowest.
Pupils who were eligible for FSM (13.8) were more than three times more likely to have a suspension than pupils not eligible for FSM (4.0).
Pupils with SEN were more likely to have a suspension (12.8) than those with no SEN (4.0).
A similar trend to the suspension rate can be observed for the exclusion rate. The exclusion rate in London schools increased from 0.06 per 100 pupils in 2022/23 to 0.07 per 100 pupils in 2023/24, continuing an upward trend since 2020/21 when it reached a low of 0.03 per 100 pupils. The rate remains below the England average, which in 2023/24 reached a high of 0.13 per 100 pupils.
The exclusion rate in London has trended downwards since the mid-2000s. Prior to 2013/14, the rate in London was higher than the national average but since then it has remained below it.
There were inequalities in the exclusion rate by pupil characteristics in London in 2023/24:
Pupils from the Mixed ethnic group (0.10) had the highest exclusion rate among pupils of different ethnicities, and Asian pupils the lowest (0.03).
FSM-eligible pupils (0.15) were more likely to have an exclusion than pupils not eligible for FSM (0.04).
SEN pupils were more likely to have an exclusion (0.17) compared to those with no SEN (0.05).