Background: School going children are the future generation of any country and their nutritional needs are critical for the well-being of society.

Objectives: To assess the anthropometric characteristics among primary school children.

Materials and methods: Present cross-sectional study was conducted among 303 primary school children (144 boys and 159 girls) of Jangipara Block of Hooghly district, West Bengal. Anthropometric
measurements such as Height (HT), Weight (WT), Sitting Height (SH), Height Acromion, Head Circumference (HC), and Mid-Upper-Arm-Circumference (MUAC) were measured by standard techniques. Body Mass Index (BMI) and Sub-ischial Leg Length (SLL) were computed following standard techniques.

Results: Descriptive statistics of all anthropometric variables were prepared. Results of t-test showed that there were significant sex differences in all anthropometric variables (HT, WT, SH, HT Acromion, HC, BMI) except MUAC and SLL. ANOVA (F) test values for boys indicated that there were significant age differences in HT, WT, SH, HT Acromion, and SLL. Similarly, F values for girls revealed that significant age differences were observed in all anthropometric variables (HT; WT; SH; HT Acromion; MUAC; HC; and SLL) except BMI. Comparison of height and weight shows that studied children were shorter and lighter than other reported Indian and reference (WHO) studies. BMI comparison also indicates similar findings. Present studied children have less height, weight and BMI in relation with reference values (WHO, 2006 and NCHS, 2012).

Conclusion: The present cross-sectional study attempts to describe the physical growth of the rural primary school children of Hooghly District of West Bengal. in terms of anthropometric characteristics.