The number of sick schoolchildren has increased in Russia.

      In Russia, the number of schoolchildren with chronic illnesses and disabilities has increased. This is reported by "Vedomosti," which studied statistics from the Ministry of Health for the year 2025. During preventive medical examinations, children are assigned to one of five health groups. The first group includes completely healthy children, while the fifth group consists of children with severe chronic illnesses and disabilities.

      As a result of last year, the number of children in the III health group increased by 2.7% and exceeded 2.3 million. This category includes children with chronic illnesses who are in remission. The number of children in the IV health group increased by 1.6% — nearly reaching 84.3 thousand. These are children who require constant supportive treatment due to the active course of chronic illnesses.

      The most noticeable growth was recorded in the V health group — the number of children with severe illnesses and disabilities increased by 4.2% and amounted to about 310 thousand. At the same time, the II health group remains the largest. It includes children without chronic illnesses but with functional disorders, consequences of past illnesses, or underweight or overweight issues. There are more than 9.2 million such schoolchildren. The number of completely healthy children in the I group has also slightly decreased.

      As explained to "Vedomosti" by Leila Namazova-Baranova, the chief freelance pediatric specialist in preventive medicine at the Ministry of Health, the increase in the number of children in the III–V health groups does not mean that they have become ill more frequently. According to her, the system of preventive examinations has become more effective in detecting diseases at early stages, which is why more diagnoses are included in the official statistics.

      Additionally, starting from 2025, the body mass index of the child has begun to be taken into account during preventive examinations, allowing for more accurate identification of overweight and obesity. The list of examinations has also been expanded: children undergo additional tests for vision, cholesterol levels, and screening for possible developmental disorders.

      Experts note that among the most common health problems among schoolchildren remain vision disorders, musculoskeletal diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, and obesity. Among the causes, specialists cite a sedentary lifestyle, prolonged use of smartphones and computers, high academic workload, and unbalanced nutrition.