Some 240 million adolescents worldwide reported no physical activity—defined as not completing at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise on any day in the previous week—according to new global estimates released by the World Health Organization.
Adolescents reported being active for an average of just 2.7 days per week. Only 14 percent of those aged 11 to 17 reported being active on all seven days of the week, according to data published in The Lancet Global Health. Global physical activity levels have remained unchanged over the past 15 years.
Persistent Gender Disparities
Twenty-eight percent of girls reported having no active days in the previous week, while 22 percent of boys reported the same. Daily activity patterns show a similar divide: 11 percent of girls reported activity every day, compared with 17 percent of boys.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General, noted that the lack of progress over the last 15 years has left girls at a particular disadvantage.
For 15 years, the world has made almost no progress in getting young people moving, and girls are being left furthest behind. The answer is not to tell adolescents to try harder. It is to build schools, streets and communities where moving, playing and being active is safe, easy and normal.
Fiona Bull, head of the physical activity unit at the World Health Organization, noted that different norms around what is appropriate for girls often drive that divergence.
Barriers to Daily Movement
The study analyzed 389 population-based surveys from 140 countries. Andrea Ramirez Varela, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, stated that inactivity is often an issue of opportunity.
Andrea Ramirez Varela said that in many lower income countries, the environment — where they live, go to school and play — often restricts opportunities to be active.
In urban areas, the lack of walkable infrastructure and concerns over safety often prevent adolescents from playing independently. Andrea Ramirez Varela noted that because the digital world is so attractive, adolescents are going to be sedentary the rest of the day.
Failing to Meet 2030 Goals
According to the WHO report, A generation missing out: Global trends in adolescent physical activity, 2010-2025, 86 percent of adolescents reported fewer than seven active days in 2025. This figure has not changed since 2010. No country is on track to meet the global target of a 15 percent relative reduction in physical inactivity by 2030.
Fiona Bull, head of the WHO physical activity unit, warned that the current trends are unsustainable.
The WHO is calling for action across the education, transport, urban planning, sport and health sectors to prevent the long-term health risks associated with inactivity, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.