BACKGROUND: The lifetime prevalence of LBP in adults is 70-80%, and it increases with age. It was only noticed in the 80’s that LBP is also common in adolescents. AIM OF WORK: The aim of this work is to study the prevalence of LBP in schoolchildren regarding the occurrence rate, the characteristics of pain, the difference between boys and girls, and between different ages. SUBJECTS, MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross sectional study included 1212 schoolchildren, 746 girls and 466 boys. The children were given a questionnaire that inquired about ever experiencing LBP. Positive responders were given a second questionnaire that inquired about the characteristics of pain and were subjected to full clinical examination. CONCLUSION: LBP in schoolchildren is common (32.2%), it is more frequent in girls than boys, it is usually recurrent, mild, mostly nonspecific and no abnormalities could be detected on examination in most cases. Yet, it causes moderate disability and a big percentage of absenteeism from school.