The world is paying a high price in poor health from growing levels of physical inactivity, the World Health Organization warned today.
In a special “global status” report, it called for governments to increase physical activity across all ages and abilities.
Its analysis of 194 countries found slow progress in improving physical activity – with fewer than 30% monitoring it in children under the age of five.
It warned that half a billion people will develop diseases linked to physical activity by 2030 unless governments change policy.
It found that barely half of countries had mass participation physical events or ran national communications campaigns over the last two years.
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "We need more countries to scale up implementation of policies to support people to be more active through walking, cycling, sport, and other physical activity. The benefits are huge, not only for the physical and mental health of individuals, but also for societies, environments, and economies.
“We hope countries and partners will use this report to build more active, healthier, and fairer societies for all.”
Fiona Bull, head of WHO’s physical activity unit, said: “We are missing globally approved indicators to measure access to parks, cycle lanes, foot paths – even though we know that data do exist in some countries. Consequently, we cannot report or track the global provision of infrastructure that will facilitate increases in physical activity.”
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