The global picture shows that inactivity varies widely between regions – from 17 percent of adults in southeast Asia to 43 percent in the Americas.

Using self-reported data, Pedro C Hallal from Universidade Federal de Pelotas in Brazil and colleagues compared global patterns of physical activity in adults (aged 15 years or older) from 122 countries (representing 89 percent of the world’€™s population) and in adolescents (aged 13 to 15 years) from 105 countries. Standardised physical activity questionnaires were used to measure total physical activity during leisure-time, housework, at work, and transport-related activity (for example cycling or walking to work).

The estimates suggest that roughly three out of every ten adults worldwide do not meet the recommended amounts of activity, defined by moderate-intensity activities, such as brisk walking for at least 30 minutes or more five times a week, or more vigorous exercise for 20 minutes three times a week.

Within Europe, countries with the greatest prevalence of inactive adults were Malta (71 percent); Serbia (68 percent); the UK (63 percent); Turkey (56 percent); Cyprus (55 percent); and Italy (55 percent). Adults in Greece (16 percent); Estonia (17 percent); and the Netherlands (18 percent) reported the least inactivity. In comparison, around 41 percent of adults in the USA and 34 percent in Canada were found to be inactive or underactive.

‘€œIn most countries, inactivity rises with age and is higher in women than in men [34 vs 28 percent]. Inactivity is also increased in high-income countries,’€ says Hallal.

Guidelines recommend that adolescents are moderately physically active for at least an hour a day. But according to the findings, over 80 percent of 13 to 15 year-olds are not managing the recommended weekly amounts, with boys reporting more activity than girls.

‘€œAlthough the technological revolution has been of great benefit to many populations throughout the world, it has come at a major cost in terms of the contribution of physical inactivity to the worldwide epidemic of non-communicable diseases. Societal trends are leading to less not more activity than previously, [and] with few exceptions, health professionals have been unable to mobilise governments and populations to take physical inactivity sufficiently seriously as a public health issue,’€ according to Hallal.

Of particular importance, he notes, are the large gaps in existing surveillance, with no data available for about a third of countries, particularly in Africa and the poorest parts of Latin America and central Asia, where the greatest burden of non-communicable diseases is located.

Source: The Lancet