Purpose to examine the growth and nourishment of the school children in Novi Sad, in the school year 2010/2011 and 1996/1997 and determine differences in growth and nourishment between two school year periods.

Methods During regular health checks in primary and secondary schools in Novi Sad, we registered a total number of children with average height (from –1.5 SD to +1.5 SD), tall (+2 SD, +3 SD), short (–2 SD, –3 SD), with normal weight (from –0.5 SD to +1 SD), obese (+1.5 SD to +3 SD), and thin pupils (from –1.5 SD to –3 SD).

Results From the total of 40861 pupils (7–19 years) in school year 2010/2011, we examined 15222 (37.25%):11095 (41.52%) in primary and 4127 (29.19%) in secondary schools, and in school year 1996/1997, from the total of 23248 enrolled pupils, 20704 (89.05%) were examined, in primary schools 12135 (94.80%) and in secondary schools 8569 (82.01%).

After comparing data from primary and secondary schools, in the school year 20010/2011, a statistically significant difference was in favor of primary school children, where there was the number of obese children (p=0.000) and thin children (p=0.000) in 2010/2011, while the number of obese children in secondary school in the school year 1996/1997accounts for obese (p=0.000) and thin children (p=0.000), which is favor of secondary school children.

Conclusion Comparing the data between two school years, there were significantly more obese and thin children in 2010/2011 in primary schools, while in 1996/1997 there were more in secondary schools.