Four hundred and eighty four obese Chinese children who were defined obese by a relative weight of more than 120% of standard weight-for-height had their social status evaluated. The social class of each child was arbitrarily determined according to the father's occupation. The distribution of obese children in various social levels was compared with that of the working population in Singapore. Significantly greater proportions of children were in the upper and middle social classes compared with the general working population. Such trends may be related to the increased affluence of the society and the accompanying changes in life-styles and eating habits, and will influence measures in health education and control of childhood obesity in the future.