TOKYO - Nearly three-quarters of Japanese female high-school students see themselves as overweight, despite being thinner on average than their peers in the United States, China and South Korea, a survey showed.

The survey by the Japan Youth Research Institute also showed that Japanese high-school students of both sexes rank the lowest in terms of self-esteem among the four countries.

The Tokyo-based institute polled more than 7,000 students from Japanese, US, Chinese and South Korean high schools on dietary habits, exercise and other factors to gauge their physical and mental health.