Physical inactivity is a significant risk factor for various chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and contributes to decreased mobility and functional decline in older persons. By monitoring this indicator, policymakers and health professionals can identify gaps in physical activity levels within the older population, enabling the development of targeted interventions and programs to promote regular physical activity. This, in turn, helps improve overall health outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and enhance the well-being, functional ability and intrinsic capacity of older people, aligning with the goals of the UN Decade to foster healthy ageing worldwide.
Definition:
Percent of defined population attaining less than 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, or less than 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, or equivalent.
Disaggregation:
Age (five-year age band), sex, income level, education level, place of residence (administrative region, e.g. cities, towns, semi-dense areas, and rural areas), setting ( residential care facility, at home in the community), disability status, nationally relevant population groups
Method of measurement
The estimates are based on self-reported physical activity captured using the GPAQ (Global Physical Activity Questionnaire), the IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire) or a similar questionnaire covering activity at work/in the household, for transport, and during leisure time. Where necessary, adjustments were made for the reported definition (in case it was different to the indicator definition), for known over-reporting of activity of the IPAQ, for survey coverage (in case a survey only covered urban areas), and for age coverage (in case the survey age range was narrower than 18+ years). No estimates were produced for countries with no data.
Method of estimation:
The estimates are based on self-reported physical activity captured using the GPAQ (Global Physical Activity Questionnaire), the IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire) or a similar questionnaire covering activity at work/in the household, for transport, and during leisure time. Where necessary, adjustments were made for the reported definition (in case it was different to the indicator definition), for known over-reporting of activity of the IPAQ, for survey coverage (in case a survey only covered urban areas), and for age coverage (in case the survey age range was narrower than 18+ years). No estimates were produced for countries with no data.
Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:
Global estimates as well as estimates for WHO regions and World Bank income groups were produced. Country estimates were combined for each group, weighting them by population size of each country. Countries with no estimate were not taken into account. For World Bank income groups, groupings for the year 2016 were used, since 2016 was the estimation year.
Different countries and organizations may have different thresholds for what constitutes sufficient physical activity, affecting comparability across regions. Additionally, self-reported data on physical activity levels can be subject to recall bias, social desirability bias, or inaccuracies in reporting, which can distort the actual prevalence of insufficient physical activity. Measurement methods can also vary, from surveys and questionnaires to objective monitoring devices, introducing variability in data accuracy and reliability. Furthermore, the indicator does it consider factors such as underlying health conditions, environmental barriers, or personal motivations that might influence physical activity levels.
If you have any feedback, you are welcome to write it here.
If you need to access the old Global Health Observatory data, you can do it here. But before you leave, please provide us your feedback about our new data portal.
