Researcher Cristina Padez, said the finding were “frightening” and the government should create a strategy to combat the problem.
The research, involved 9,032 children from schools up and down the country and was presented at the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity conference in Edinburgh in June.


Ms Padez said the conclusions of the study point towards the number of children watching TV for more than two hours a day increased by 12% during the week, 15% on Saturday and 17% on Sunday between 2002 and 2009.


“Children whose parents have little education, spend more time watching television”, Cristina Padez said, adding that regarding the use of computers, “the situation was worse”.


“Back in 2002, poor children practically didn’t use computers, by 2009 about 19% of these kids spent more than two hours a day on the computer.


In terms of sport outside school, the research showed that “only half the children have physical activity outside of school and in the lower socio-economic classes, the percentage of children not practicing sport had soared from 36% (in 2002) to 80% (in2009).