31 percent of the world’s adult population, or approximately 1.8 billion adults, do not practice any type of physical activity and are at risk of contracting diseases because of it, especially women, which means an increase of six cents between 2010 and 2022, according to new data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). It was published in an article in The Lancet Global health‘.
The findings point to a “worrying” trend in physical inactivity among adults, which has risen from 24 per cent in 2010 to 31 per cent in 2022. As WHO experts explained at a press conference presenting the study, if this trend continues, inactivity levels are expected to continue rising to 35 per cent by 2030, and the world is currently far from achieving the global target of reducing physical inactivity by 2030.
However, Spain is below par middle All over the world, only 25% of the population does not engage in any type of physical activity. Women are more lethargic than men.
The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends that adults engage in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity, or equivalent, per week, and failure to adhere to these recommendations would be understandable. From “physical inactivity”, which affects one third of the world’s population.
In this context, Director of Health Promotion at the World Health Organization, Dr Rudiger KrechThe World Health Organization has warned that inactivity represents a “silent threat to global health” because it “contributes significantly to the burden of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes and respiratory diseases.”
“Within 10 years, 500 million new cases of non-communicable diseases could be avoided, at a cost of $300 billion to the public health system, if the population reaches recommended levels of physical activity. Physical activity must be available and affordable,” he noted. It is fun for everyone so that we can significantly reduce the risks of non-communicable diseases and mental disorders.
On the other hand, the data also reveal a continuing trend that women are less active than men, with inactivity rates reaching 34 compared to 29 percent, “in some countries it rises to 20 percent and in more than a third of the countries that suffer from it.” “Higher than 10 percent,” according to the Head of Surveillance, Monitoring and Reporting at the Department of Non-Communicable Diseases at the World Health Organization, Dr. Lynn Reilly.
Likewise, the highest rates of physical inactivity were observed in high-income Asia-Pacific (48%) and South Asia (45%), while in other regions levels of inactivity ranged from 28% to high-income Western countries, including Spain. And 14% from Oceania.
In addition, people over the age of 60 are less active than other adults, underscoring the importance of promoting physical activity among older adults.
According to experts, there are multiple reasons behind the increase in physical inactivity around the world, including changes in work models (tendency toward more sedentary work), changes in the environment, which make active transportation more difficult, and changes in leisure activities, i.e. more sedentary activities in front of a screen.
In the face of these data, WHO calls on countries to strengthen the implementation of policies that promote and facilitate physical activity.
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