One in four teenagers worldwide reported no active days in the previous week, amounting to approximately 240 million young people aged 11 to 17 who failed to complete at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on any single day, according to global estimates released by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The global average stands at 2.7 active days per week, with just 14 per cent of adolescents reporting activity across all seven days. Published in The Lancet Global Health and drawing on 389 population-based surveys across 140 countries involving more than 3.2 million adolescents, the data reveals that levels of physical activity among young people have remained virtually unchanged over the past 15 years.
Girls Trail Boys in Daily Physical Activity Worldwide
The findings highlight a stubborn gender gap in adolescent movement. Twenty-eight per cent of girls reported no active days compared to 22 per cent of boys, while only 11 per cent of girls reported being active every day versus 17 per cent of boys. Girls proved less active than boys in almost every country and across every WHO region. Geographical differences proved equally stark: in some nations, as few as 6.9 per cent of adolescents reported zero active days, while in others the figure surpassed 40 per cent.
Adolescents in wealthier regions such as Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, East Asia, the Pacific, and high-income Western nations averaged four active days per week, with 6.9 per cent to 7.7 per cent reporting complete inactivity. In contrast, lower- and middle-income regions including Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Oceania, South and Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa averaged roughly two active days, with 22.7 per cent to 33.1 per cent of young people reporting no active days.
Finland, Canada, and Serbia recorded the most active adolescents with averages of 4.5 to 4.8 active days per week, whereas Cambodia, Jordan, and Madagascar recorded the lowest levels at 1.7 to 1.9 days. In the UK, just 17 per cent of adolescents manage the recommended daily threshold, with teenage girls falling short at 13 per cent active daily compared to 21 per cent of boys.
Public Health Warnings from Global Officials
Health authorities emphasized that physical inactivity operates as a prime risk factor for noncommunicable diseases, which account for 75 per cent of deaths globally. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, issued a direct critique of past efforts.
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.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
Researchers noted that no country or region is currently on track to achieve the target of reducing adolescent physical inactivity by 15 per cent between 2010 and 2030. Dr Tessa Strain, the study’s lead author from the University of Edinburgh, pointed out that older teens grow progressively less active, dropping from an average of 4.6 active days at age 11 to 3.6 days by age 17.
Professor Seth Flaxman, from the University of Oxford/ RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, who led the statistical modelling, stressed that society holds the power to alter these trajectories through targeted environmental and structural adjustments.
Sporting Goods Industry Coalition Response
In response to the data, 83 sporting goods companies and federations coordinated by the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) signed an open letter committing to collaborative action. Signatories include major brands such as Adidas, Asics, Bauer, Decathlon, New Balance, and Nike.
Our biggest competitor is inactivity. Our greatest opportunity is participation.
Emma Zwiebler, Chief Executive Officer of WFSGI
Industry executives emphasized that cross-sector alignment is vital to address the structural barriers detailed in the WHO report. Vanessa Garcia-Brito, vice president and chief impact officer at Nike Inc., said the industry is working to make sport and play easier to access, more fun and welcoming to everyone, particularly for girls.
