Standing view · health · New Forest
improving, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2025.
Health measures in New Forest have been improving. Adults who are obese was 31.81 in 2023/24 and recorded as unfavourable against the usual pattern for its year, then 21.03 in 2024/25 and favourable. That single measure is the whole of this evidence: one reading each way, with the favourable one the more recent and the larger movement. It is held as established rather than strong for that reason, and the next release is what would confirm whether the improvement holds or the earlier reading was the truer one.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about New Forest. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Adults who are obese | 2023/24 | deteriorating |
| Adults who are obese | 2024/25 | improving |