Abstract: This paper describes the present-day physical development of Yugu nationality children between the ages of 4 and 13 from the Yugu area,Gansu Province for the purpose of providing reference material and advice to improve children's health care. For this work, heights and weights of 484 children(using a random cluster sampling strategy) were measured. The relationship between physical development and age, in two groups(4—7 and 7—13 aged children) were analyzed.Height-for-age(HAZ) and weight-for-age(WAZ) scores were calculated and evaluated for the groups, with consideration for growth retardation and underweightness, and the calculation of body mass index(BMI) to assess overweightness and thinness. The results of this work are as follows. The height of children was higher than a reference value. The ratio of overweightness and thinness in the 4—7 age group was 3.45% and 2.30% respectively. The proportion of malnutrition and severe thinness was 36.90% and 13.10% in the 7—13 age group, and the degree of thinness for girls was no better than for boys. The conclusion of this work is that the growth development of Yugu children is consistent with the general growth pattern. The problem we should recognize is to pay more attention to the 7—13 age group in terms of increasing nutritional intake and exercise regimes to improve physical quality of life.

Key words: Height; Weight; Yugu nationality