These Are The Laziest Countries In The World, According To The WHO

[memory man]

A study led by the World Health Organization (WHO) has tracked rates of physical activity around the world – and revealed which country is the least active.

Published in The Lancet Global Health, the large study included 1.9 million people in 168 countries, who completed surveys on their activity, which the WHO said represented 96 percent of the global population.

Their findings showed that in 2016, about a quarter of all adults – or 1.4 billion people – were not getting enough activity, putting them “at risk of developing or exacerbating diseases linked to inactivity.” This includes conditions like type-diabetes and some cancers.

Being active was defined by the WHO as doing at least 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week, 150 minutes of moderate activity, or a combination of the two.

Using this definition, the laziest country was said to be Kuwait, where 67 percent of the population did not get enough activity per week. American Samoa was second last at 53.5 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Brazil.


The 10 laziest countries

Kuwait (67 percent not doing enough activity per week)

American Samoa (53.4 percent)

Saudi Arabia (53 percent)

Iraq (52 percent)

Brazil (47 percent)

Costa Rica (46.1 percent)

Cyprus (44.4 percent)

Suriname (44.4 percent)

Colombia (44 percent)

Marshall Islands (43.5 percent)


The US ranked 143rd, with just 40 percent of its adults not doing enough exercise. And the UK was similarly bad, coming in at 123rd with 35.9 percent of the country not doing enough.

Uganda was the country that did the best, with just 5.5 percent of the country not doing enough exercise per week. They were followed by Mozambique, Lesotho, Tanzania, and Niue.


The 10 most active countries

Uganda (5.5 percent)

Mozambique (5.6 percent)

Lesotho (6.3 percent)

Tanzania (6.5 percent)

Niue (6.9 percent)

Vanuatu (8 percent)

Togo (9.8 percent)

Cambodia (10.5 percent)

Myanmar (10.7 percent)

Tokelau (11.1 percent)

The WHO said their results showed a global effort to reduce physical inactivity by 10 percent in 2025 was “not on track”. They noted that physical activity was particularly high in high-income countries, and women tended to be less active than men.

“A significant increase in national action is urgently needed in most countries to scale-up implementation of effective policies,” they said. “However, implementation will require bold leadership and full engagement across sectors to change the current approach.”


https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-m ... o-the-who/

[Jimgward]

I would say that more women in the UK now take part in jogging, gym classes and exercise, while men under 50 take part in team sports....

[Anarita John]

I am always amazed about just how many locals are walking, jogging, running along there.

15 years ago, when we first came to Cyprus and stayed at the Imperial Hotel, the only joggers, runners, walkers you saw on the coastal path were people on holiday, especially early in the morning.. Now, the majority of people exercising on this path are Cypriots and there must be hundreds of them during the day. The football pitches at Geroskipou are busy every evening and in the school holidays, again catering for hundreds of people. Also, early in the morning, there are various exercise and yoga classes that take place along the seafront or on the tennis courts near the old sodap winery.

Now that it has cooled down a bit, I must start my daily walk from Geroskipou Beach to the Lighthouse path and back. 6 miles in total. Whilst it has been hot I have been doing lengths in our pool.

From my observations, people, both in the UK and Cyprus, are doing much more in the way of exercise than a few years ago. When I was doing my round Anglesey walk in the summer holidays I met lots of people, of all ages, who were doing the Anglesey Coast Path, or completing the round Wales Coastal Path, either in one go, during the summer holidays, or a bit each year.

If you want to read about my exploits in the summer, here is the lnk.
viewtopic.php?f=62&t=6769

[Firefly]

It seems to me that exercise has changed in form.

When I was a young woman we didn't have a car, so we walked to most places. When my first child was born I walked to town with her, and back, having to push her pram up a steep hill home. Housework kept we young mums busy, so we had not time for any extra exercise, nor the need of it.

Now young mums have cars and labour saving household equipment, so are not having the physical exercise that we did.

Later when I was nursing I certainly didn't need to go to a gym, we were kept busy all day. Later when I had to give up nursing, I went in into office work, that was when I needed the gym, going twice a week to keep fit. I'm amazed at the young women now who are well over weight, and find it sad that they don't see that they need to exercise to lose weight and keep fit. Many older women now go to the gym, as they see what happens if you don't exercise.

Quite a few of my neighbours go to the gym regularly, they also walk and play sport with their children, it's good to see them away from their computers, and being active.

Jackie