ABSTRACT
Physical health is the foundation of children’s overall development and affects all other domains of child well-being. This chapter describes various aspects of children’s physical health based on the following indicators: low birthweight, incidence of sickness and hospitalization, health insurance coverage, overweight and obesity, self-reported health and regular exercise behavior. The findings show that physical health conditions of Chinese children in rural areas have improved in terms of low birthweight and morbidity from 2010 to 2014. Access to public health insurance has significantly improved for all children, especially for left-behind children and migrant children. While the proportion of underweight children has diminished for all groups of children, obesity has become a growing problem, especially for rural children.
