PhysicaI development norms for assessing children in Southern part of Nigeria

Abstract

This study carried out in Southern part of Nigeria, with the sole aim of developing standards or norms for boys and girls, 5 -I2 years old with particular reference to their physical characteristics of height, weight and body mass index. Two thousand eight hundred and six (2806) school children formed the sample. There were one thousand three hundred and eighty one (1381) boys as against the one thousand four hundred and twenty five (1425) girls randomly selected from the South-South, South-East and South-West zones of Nigeria. For their height, this study recorded mean values of 1.27 - 1.34 meters for ages 10-11 years. The values for the American children of the same age bracket falls between 1.336 - 1.419 meters. The mean weight for boys was 24.75±2.41kg; while that of the girls was 24.96±2.78kg. The American values for age10-11 years, fall between 27.24 to 31.78kg; while ages 11-12 years fall between 31.80 to 36.42kg. The mean for the body mass index was 9.43±0.45 for the boys and 9.46±0.50 for the girls. These would help to form the reference points for Nigeria as at the present.