Physical Inactivity: A Silent Threat to Global Health

Inactivity is rising globally, to the detriment of our health and well-being.

Reviewed by Jessica Schrader

Key points

• Recent data from the World Health Organization shows that nearly a third of adults are not active enough.
• These findings represent lost opportunities to globally reduce serious medical conditions.
• Being more active at any age has benefits.

According to recently released data from the World Health Organization (WHO), close to one-third of adults across the world are not physically active enough, putting them at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, and cancers (Strain, et al., 2024).

WHO recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, per week. However, surveys across 163 countries and territories revealed that 31% of those studied did not meet these recommendations.

These findings indicate that an estimated 1.8 billion people worldwide are not engaging in sufficient exercise or activity. Even more disappointing, rather than trending upwards as WHO had hoped, these results showed a downward trend of physical activity among adults by about five percentage points between 2010 and 2022. According to the report, “If the trend continues, levels of inactivity are projected to further rise to 35% by 2030, and the world is currently off track from meeting the global target to reduce physical inactivity by 2030.”

Lost Opportunities

As explained by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, these findings represent lost opportunities to globally reduce serious medical conditions such as stroke, heart disease, and cancers while at the same time improving mental health and well-being through the relatively simple task of physical activity. His recommendation to attempt to reverse this trend is to renew efforts to increase physical activity globally by strengthening policies, increasing funding, and promoting activities through grassroots and community recreation organizations that encourage adults to walk, cycle, and engage in other community-based sports. This is especially important for groups with the lowest activity levels, two of which are women and individuals over the age of 60. In fact, women were found to be less active than men by five percentage points, leading researchers to call for a greater focus on interventions that target women.

A Silent Threat

According to Dr. Rüdiger Krech, director of health promotion at WHO, “Physical inactivity is a silent threat to global health, contributing significantly to the burden of chronic diseases. We need to find innovative ways to motivate people to be more active, considering factors like age, environment, and cultural background. By making physical activity accessible, affordable, and enjoyable for all, we can significantly reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases and create a population that is healthier and more productive.”

Fortunately, it's never too late to start. Being more active at any age has benefits, but as we age, an active routine and lifestyle have important and positive implications for healthy aging, mental health, and the management of chronic diseases. Although there are numerous factors that influence how active people are (e.g., individual, social, cultural, environmental, economic), in high-income Western countries, which includes the U.S., there are many cost-free or low-cost opportunities to be active.

Opportunities

There are several resources to find recreational opportunities throughout the U.S. Here are a few ways to find them:

The U.S. has a resource for national parks and recreation at recreation.gov. In addition, each state has its own parks and recreation websites. For example, North Carolina’s can be found here.

For more local recreation opportunities, a quick search of community recreation centers "near me" typically produces a wide range of recreation opportunities including parks, activities, and classes in your local community.

Finally, WHO publishes Be He@lthy, Be Mobile: A Handbook on How to Implement Mobile Health for Physical Activity. It's a program focused on walking because walking is an activity that requires no equipment, costs, special environments, or special skills, plus walking has been found to have a multitude of health benefits. Using a four- to six-week mobile phone-based program called mActive, participants receive text messages that encourage them to increase and maintain a regular walking routine by setting weekly goals aimed at incrementally achieving the WHO recommendation of at least 150 minutes of weekly, moderate-intensity physical activity.