The objective of the study was to assess the nutritional status weight, height and BMI among school children aged from 9-11 years. A total of 285 Libyan students aged 9-11years (boys 135 and girls 150) were randomly selected using the 2011/2012 educational districts' registers as a sampling frame from fourth to sixth class primary school, in Derna city. The results were compared with the WHO-2007 standard reference population, and cross referenced with previous studies undertaken in the Gulf countries which used the same parameters. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended various indices based on anthropometry to evaluate the nutritional status of children. An attempt has been made to assess the nutritional status of the school age children (9-11) years. This study revealed that the prevalence of underweight was higher for boys (1.00%) than girls (0.86%) but did not reach statistical significance (p> 0.05) were underweight, slightly higher in girls (6.47%), than boys (4.30%), however, the difference was not statistical significance (p> 0.05). The prevalence of stunting was higher among girls than boys, 4.16% and 1.55% respectively, the differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). Overweight and stunting was more likely to be found in girls. This study had a low prevalence of underweight, overweight, and stunting when compared with previous studies undertaken in some of the Gulf countries.

Keyword: weight, height, BMI, school children.

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