Power-like Tail Observed in Weight Distributions of Schoolchildren

TL;DR

This study analyzes the weight distributions of Japanese schoolchildren, revealing a power-like tail in older boys' weights, modeled effectively by the double Pareto distribution, highlighting obesity dynamics.

Contribution

It is the first to identify a power-like tail in the weight distribution of Japanese children and models it using the double Pareto distribution.

Findings

Weight distributions of 16- and 17-year-old boys have a power-like tail.

The tail is best modeled by the double Pareto distribution.

The tail's emergence may relate to low obesity-to-normal weight transition probabilities.

Abstract

We investigated the statistical properties of the weight distributions of Japanese children who were born in 1996, from recent data. The weights of 16- and 17-year-old male children have a lognormal distribution with a power-like tail, which is best modeled by the double Pareto distribution. The emergence of the power-like tail may be attributed to the low probability that an obese person will attain a normal weight.