Why is Physical Activity Important for Health?

Key Facts

• Regular physical activity provides significant physical and mental health benefits.
• In adults, physical activity helps prevent and manage noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes, and reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety.
• In children and adolescents, physical activity promotes bone health, encourages healthy growth and development, and improves motor and cognitive development.
• 31% of adults and 80% of adolescents do not meet the recommended levels of physical activity.
• The global target is to reduce levels of physical inactivity by 10% by 2025 and 15% by 2030, from the 2010 baseline.
• The global cost of physical inactivity to public health care systems between 2020 and 2030 is estimated at about US$ 300 billion.

Overview

WHO defines physical activity as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. This includes activities during leisure time, transportation, work, or domestic tasks. Both moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity improve health. Popular activities include walking, cycling, sports, and active recreation.

Physical activity is beneficial to health and well-being, while physical inactivity increases the risk for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and other poor health outcomes. Together, physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors contribute to the rise in NCDs and place a burden on healthcare systems.

Improving levels of physical activity will benefit health and well-being and contribute to global NCD targets and Sustainable Development Goals. This requires increased commitments and investments by Member States, innovation, cross-sector coordination, and ongoing guidance from WHO.

Benefits of Physical Activity and Risks of Sedentary Behavior

Physical inactivity is a leading risk factor for NCD mortality. Insufficiently active people have a 20% to 30% increased risk of death compared to sufficiently active people. Regular physical activity is associated with:

• In children and adolescents: Improved physical fitness, cardiometabolic health, bone health, cognitive outcomes, mental health, and reduced body fat.
• In adults and older adults: Reduced risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, hypertension, site-specific cancers, type-2 diabetes, and falls. Improved mental health, cognitive health, sleep, and body fat measures.
• For pregnant and post-partum women: Decreased risk of pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, excessive weight gain, delivery complications, postpartum depression, and newborn complications.

Sedentary behavior, such as sitting or lying down, is associated with poor health outcomes. Increased sedentary behavior is linked to:

• In children and adolescents: Increased adiposity, poorer cardiometabolic health, fitness, and behavioral conduct, and reduced sleep duration.
• In adults: Increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer mortality, and incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and type-2 diabetes.

How Much Physical Activity is Recommended?

The WHO Global guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior provide recommendations for various age groups, including children, adolescents, adults, older adults, pregnant and post-partum women, and people with chronic conditions and disabilities. The guidelines highlight that any amount of physical activity is better than none, all physical activity counts, and muscle strengthening benefits everyone.

The WHO Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep for children under 5 years of age provide recommendations on the amount of time young children should spend being physically active or sleeping, and the maximum recommended time for screen-based activities.

An infographic summarizes the current WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior for all age groups. WHO develops guidelines through a rigorous process of reviewing scientific evidence and expert consultations. Preparations are already underway for the next guidelines, anticipated for publication in 2030.

Levels of Physical Inactivity Globally

WHO regularly monitors trends in physical inactivity. A recent study found that nearly one third (31%) of the world’s adult population, 1.8 billion adults, are physically inactive. This is an increase of 5 percentage points between 2010 and 2022. If this trend continues, the proportion of adults not meeting recommended levels of physical activity is projected to rise to 35% by 2030.

Globally, there are notable age and gender differences in levels of physical inactivity:

• Women are less active than men by an average of 5 percentage points.
• After 60 years of age, physical inactivity levels increase in both men and women.
• 81% of adolescents (aged 11–17 years) were physically inactive.
• Adolescent girls were less active than boys, with 85% vs. 78% not meeting WHO guidelines.

Many factors determine how active people are, including individual, social, cultural, environmental, and economic determinants that influence access and opportunities to be active in safe and enjoyable ways.

How Member States Can Increase Levels of Physical Activity

The WHO Global action plan on physical activity provides policy recommendations for countries and communities to promote physical activity. Examples include policies that ensure access to walking, cycling, and non-motorized transport; increase physical activity opportunities in schools, workplaces, childcare centers, and healthcare services; and increase accessibility and availability of community sports and public open spaces.

Implementing effective policies to increase physical activity requires a collective effort across multiple government departments and national and local engagement from various sectors and stakeholders. Priority should be given to policy actions that address disparities in levels of physical activity, promoting and encouraging physical activity for all.

WHO Response

WHO supports countries and stakeholders to implement recommended actions by:

1. Developing global policy guidance and guidelines, underpinned by the latest evidence and consensus.
2. Supporting countries to develop appropriate policies that promote physical activity and multisectoral collaborations.
3. Conducting advocacy to raise awareness of the benefits of increasing physical activity and supporting economic analysis of the impact and return on investment of different policy interventions.
4. Developing technical tools and training packages to help countries build capacity in implementing policy and programs across key settings and innovations using digital platforms.
5. Convening, coordinating, and collaborating to strengthen partnerships across sectors and between policy makers, practitioners, and researchers.
6. Undertaking global monitoring and reporting of progress on the implementation of the Global action plan on physical activity and global levels of physical inactivity.

WHO supports countries and stakeholders by developing global policy guidance and guidelines, underpinned by the latest evidence and consensus, to help countries develop appropriate policies, investment cases, and financing mechanisms.

References

1. Strain, T., Flaxman, S., et al. National, regional, and global trends in insufficient physical activity among adults from 2000 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 507 population-based surveys with 5.7 million participants. The Lancet Global Health (2024).
2. Guthold, R., Stevens, G., et al. Global trends in insufficient physical activity among adolescents: a pooled analysis of 298 population-based surveys with 1.6 million participants. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Vol. 4 Iss. 1 (2019).