⚠️ Unconfirmedhealth2022

Prevalence of insufficient physical activity (adults 18+, age-standardized, both sexes)

Name: Prevalence of insufficient physical activity (adults 18+, age-standardized, both sexes)
Creator: World Health Organization (WHO) — Global Health Observatory (GHO)
Keywords: statistic-of-the-day, ai-generated, physical activity, inactivity, NCD risk factor, exercise, public health, WHO

Share of adults (18+) not meeting WHO activity guidelines, age-standardized. WHO Global Health Observatory data, latest available (mostly 2022).

Source: World Health Organization (WHO) — Global Health Observatory (GHO)•171 countries

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Key Insights

Global Average

28.1%

Median: 28.3%

Countries Covered

171

with available data

Highest

Qatar

57.2%

Lowest

Ghana

10.0%

Top 5 Countries

1Qatar57.2%

2Kuwait52.6%

3Barbados50.6%

4Oman49.9%

5Comoros49.4%

By Region

South America36.8%(7 countries)

North America34.7%(4 countries)

Oceania34.3%(2 countries)

Asia33.2%(25 countries)

Europe28.1%(32 countries)

Key Findings

•Physical inactivity varies widely across countries, reflecting differences in work patterns, transport, and built environments.
•Higher inactivity is often observed in highly urbanized contexts where daily movement is less built into transport and work.
•Because the metric is age-standardized, cross-country comparisons are more meaningful than using crude prevalence.

Country Rankings

Top 10 Countries

Bottom 10 Countries

Data Analysis

Value Distribution

How countries are distributed across the value range

Low (9.5%)High (57.2%)

Regional Comparison

Average values by world region (Global avg: 28.1%)

South America (7)

North America (4)

Oceania (2)

Asia (25)

Europe (32)

Other (92)

Africa (9)

About This Statistic

This statistic measures the percentage of adults aged 18+ who are “insufficiently physically active,” meaning they do not achieve the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended minimum levels of physical activity (at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, or an equivalent combination). It is age-standardized, which improves comparability across countries with different age structures.

Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases (including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers). Country differences are influenced by urban design, transport systems, occupational activity, leisure-time sport participation, safety, cultural norms, and the availability of public spaces for walking and exercise.

Full Data

Rank ↑	Country ↕	Value ↕
1	Qatar	57.2%
2	Kuwait	52.6%
3	Barbados	50.6%
4	Oman	49.9%
5	Comoros	49.4%
6	Dominica	49.0%
7	Panama	48.2%
8	United Arab Emirates	47.9%
9	Andorra	47.1%
10	Lebanon	44.7%
11	Uruguay	44.6%
12	Bermuda	44.3%
13	Jamaica	44.0%
14	Saudi Arabia	43.9%
15	Venezuela	43.3%
16	Luxembourg	42.8%
17	Costa Rica	42.5%
18	Bhutan	42.0%
19	Faroe Islands	41.6%
20	Trinidad and Tobago	41.2%
21	North Korea	40.9%
22	Solomon Islands	40.5%
23	South Africa	40.3%
24	Haiti	39.8%
25	Mexico	39.4%
26	Brunei Darussalam	39.2%
27	Maldives	39.1%
28	Chile	38.9%
29	Libya	38.6%
30	Ecuador	38.0%
31	Malta	36.9%
32	Cuba	36.7%
33	Colombia	36.6%
34	Jordan	36.3%
35	Peru	36.2%
36	Botswana	36.1%
37	Sri Lanka	35.9%
38	Japan	35.8%
39	Iraq	35.6%
40	Singapore	35.6%
41	Bolivia	35.5%
42	Dominican Republic	35.2%
43	Australia	35.1%
44	Moldova, Republic of	35.0%
45	Armenia	34.9%
46	Syrian Arab Republic	34.7%
47	India	34.3%
48	Algeria	34.2%
49	The Republic of North Macedonia	34.1%
50	Bahrain	34.0%
51	United States of America	33.8%
52	Bosnia and Herzegovina	33.8%
53	New Zealand	33.5%
54	Türkiye	33.4%
55	Honduras	33.3%
56	Serbia	33.2%
57	Guatemala	33.1%
58	Brazil	33.0%
59	Canada	32.6%
60	Pakistan	32.4%
61	Latvia	32.3%
62	Montenegro	32.0%
63	Mauritius	31.9%
64	Croatia	31.8%
65	Lithuania	31.6%
66	Israel	31.5%
67	Afghanistan	31.4%
68	Czech Republic	31.0%
69	Egypt	31.0%
70	Islamic Republic of Iran	30.8%
71	South Korea	30.6%
72	Ukraine	30.4%
73	Argentina	30.0%
74	Estonia	29.9%
75	Romania	29.8%
76	Italy	29.7%
77	Albania	29.6%
78	Greece	29.4%
79	Hungary	29.2%
80	Philippines	29.1%
81	Spain	29.1%
82	Belarus	28.9%
83	Poland	28.8%
84	Austria	28.7%
85	Slovakia	28.4%
86	Fiji	28.3%
87	Belgium	28.1%
88	Germany	28.0%
89	France	27.7%
90	Netherlands	27.2%
91	Nicaragua	27.0%
92	Cyprus	26.9%
93	Belize	26.8%
94	Portugal	26.7%
95	Bangladesh	26.3%
96	Tunisia	26.2%
97	Finland	26.1%
98	El Salvador	26.0%
99	Slovenia	25.9%
100	Ireland	25.7%
101	Morocco	25.3%
102	Georgia	25.1%
103	Russian Federation	25.0%
104	Malaysia	24.9%
105	Paraguay	24.8%
106	United Kingdom	24.6%
107	Denmark	24.5%
108	Indonesia	24.3%
109	Bulgaria	24.2%
110	Switzerland	24.0%
111	Vietnam	23.7%
112	Kyrgyzstan	23.6%
113	People's Republic of China	23.4%
114	Kazakhstan	23.1%
115	Eswatini	22.9%
116	Djibouti	22.7%
117	Lesotho	22.4%
118	Angola	22.0%
119	Norway	21.9%
120	Cambodia	21.8%
121	Sudan	21.2%
122	Sweden	21.0%
123	Mauritania	20.7%
124	Nigeria	20.5%
125	Iceland	20.4%
126	Timor-Leste	19.9%
127	Zimbabwe	19.7%
128	Bahamas	19.6%
129	Sierra Leone	19.4%
130	Cape Verde	19.3%
131	Thailand	19.1%
132	Yemen	19.0%
133	Uzbekistan	18.9%
134	Democratic Republic of the Congo	18.8%
135	Eritrea	18.6%
136	Papua New Guinea	18.5%
137	Tajikistan	18.2%
138	Myanmar	18.1%
139	Namibia	18.0%
140	Kenya	17.8%
141	Benin	17.2%
142	Chad	16.7%
143	Central African Republic	16.4%
144	Suriname	16.2%
145	Lao People's Democratic Republic	15.8%
146	Cote d'Ivoire	15.3%
147	Burkina Faso	15.2%
148	Guinea-Bissau	15.0%
149	Madagascar	14.9%
150	Zambia	14.8%
151	Burundi	14.7%
152	Uganda	14.5%
153	Nepal	14.3%
154	Senegal	14.1%
155	Republic of the Congo	13.9%
156	Niger	13.7%
157	United Republic of Tanzania	13.6%
158	Mali	13.5%
159	Somalia	13.3%
160	Mozambique	13.2%
161	Malawi	13.0%
162	Cameroon	12.8%
163	South Sudan	12.7%
164	Republic of The Gambia	12.6%
165	Liberia	12.4%
166	Togo	12.3%
167	Mongolia	12.1%
168	Guinea	11.6%
169	Rwanda	10.8%
170	Ethiopia	10.2%
171	Ghana	10.0%

Showing 171 of 171 countries

Topics

#statistic-of-the-day #ai-generated #physical activity #inactivity #NCD risk factor #exercise #public health #WHO

Data Source

This data comes from World Health Organization (WHO) — Global Health Observatory (GHO) (2022).

View Original Source