The obesity rate for schoolchildren living in Shanghai dropped for the first time in five years last year, the city's education commission said Tuesday.

A total of 1.2 million primary and middle school students attended government-organized health exams last year, the commission said in a statement.

According to the statement, 89.1 percent of attendees met national health standards for children, the highest level since the standards were adopted in 2007.

The obesity rate stood at 16.9 percent in 2011, 0.6 percentage points lower from a year earlier, according to the statement.

Improved diets and insufficient exercise have been blamed for increasing obesity rates among children nationwide, especially in large cities.

The commission urged parents to push their children to do physical exercise for at least one hour a day to improve their health.

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