This map, created by Anna Diederichs for the website Visual Capitalist, shows the percentage of the population that does not engage in the recommended amount of physical activity worldwide, according to data published by The Lancet in 2024.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that everyone should engage in two and a half hours of moderate activity (walking, cycling, hiking, etc.) or one and a quarter hours of intense activity (running, playing football, swimming, etc.) per week.
The map shows how there are regions of the world where physical activity is much lower, such as America and the Middle East, and others where physical activity seems much more common, such as much of Asia and Africa.
Among the most active countries are Malawi (3.% of inactive people), Tanzania (4.%) and Uganda (6.%). At the opposite end of the spectrum are the United Arab Emirates (66 %), Kuwait (63 %) and Cuba (61 %). In Europe, there are significant differences between countries, ranging from 52 % in Portugal to 10 % in Finland.
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