Body height and weight of children in Novi Sad

Height and weight are the most important measures of growth and development and indirect indicators of living conditions. The socio-economic conditions in Serbia have varied drastically. In 1990, a political and economic crisis started causing a rapid fall of standards of living.

The study aimed to determine the height and weight of children aged 3-11 in the periods between 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001 in Novi Sad, Serbia.

This investigation was carried out in the same primary schools and pre-school institutions. The data included children of Serbian nationality born in Novi Sad whose parents were also born there and had the same socio-economic background.

Positive changes in height and weight were recorded in the decades 1971-1981 and 1981-1991, except for the height of 8-year-old children. In the period 1991-2001, an increase in height was observed only at the age of 8 in boys and until the age of 9 in girls. As for weight, an increase was recorded in 9-year-old boys, while in girls it was present at all ages except for the ages of 7 and 10. Considering the period 1971-2001, positive changes in height were recorded from the age of 6 in boys and 5 in girls. The changes in weight were positive at all ages except the age of 5 in boys and after the age of 6 in girls.

Lower values of height and weight recorded in 2001 are probably due to the changes in living conditions or they indicate that the acceleration reached its peak.