White children are more likely to break their bones than children from black or South Asian backgrounds, research has found.

The risk of a child fracturing a bone can depend upon their ethnicity and where they live in the UK, experts found.

Each year 150 out of every 10,000 white children break their bones compared with 81 fractures per 10,000 South Asian children and 64 out of 10,000 black youngsters, researchers said.

Experts at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton found that three in 10 boys and almost one in five girls will suffer a broken bone in childhood.

The study, published in the journal Bone, also found a wide regional variation, with the highest fracture rates in Wales, where children were almost twice as likely to break a bone as those living in Greater London.

"Our findings suggest that 30% of boys and 19% of girls will sustain a broken bone before their 18th birthday," said co-lead of the study Nicholas Harvey, professor of rheumatology and clinical epidemiology.

"However, there is no clear indication at this point for why there are these differences in fracture rates. Further work will be needed to understand the reasons for the variation in fracture rates across the UK, but are likely to involve differences in socio-economic circumstances, ethnic diversity, and levels of obesity and physical activity.

"The demonstration of differences in fracture rates by ethnicity and location will clearly be helpful in targeting health resources to those at greatest risk - given the high rates of childhood fracture and the impact in terms of pain, immobility and interruption of schooling, our findings provide real support for such strategies."

Fizz Thompson, clinical and operations director at the National Osteoporosis Society, which funded the study, added: "Poor bone health is a massive issue which needs urgent action. More than three million people in the UK are estimated to have osteoporosis and every year people in the UK suffer from 300,000 fractures.

"This new study highlights the importance of looking after our bones at a young age and throughout our lives.

"It also provides useful evidence for developing strategies to target health resources to address fractures, no matter how old we are."

The researchers analysed the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink database records between 1988 and 2012.