A quarter of adolescents worldwide do not move on any day of the week: no progress in 15 years

The scale of the problem

One in four adolescents worldwide — about 240 million young people — reported in 2025 that they were not physically active on any day of the week. The global average was 2.7 active days per week and, as the study published in The Lancet Global Health showed, has not changed from 2010 to 2025. Only about one in seven adolescents — 14% — was active every day.

What and how was measured

The work is based on data from 389 surveys covering 3.2 million adolescents aged 11 to 17 in 140 countries — 59% of the world's adolescent population. An active day was defined by the researchers as one on which the adolescent reported at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity — in line with the World Health Organization recommendation, — regardless of whether it came from school, commuting, or leisure.

The WHO target is out of reach for everyone

The WHO has set a target of reducing the share of adolescents who fail to meet the 60-minutes-of-activity norm on all seven days of the week by 15% between 2010 and 2030. However, according to the report, no country or region is on track to achieve this indicator. The authors emphasize that a high share of inactive young people means existing programs are not reaching a significant part of the population.

Gaps between sexes and regions

Boys are on average more active than girls: three active days per week versus 2.4, and girls' activity declines with age while the gap widens. There is also geographic inequality: in wealthier regions — Central and Eastern Europe with Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, high-income Western countries — adolescents are active on average four days a week, and only 6.9–7.7% are completely inactive. In low- and middle-income regions — Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Oceania, South and Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa — the average is about two days, and the share of completely inactive adolescents reaches 22.7–33.1%. The most active adolescents are in Finland, Canada, and Serbia (4.5–4.8 days), the least active in Cambodia, Jordan, and Madagascar (1.7–1.9 days).

What the authors propose

The authors attribute geographic and income-related differences mainly to structural factors: wealthier countries are able to invest more in physical activity policies and build infrastructure — public open spaces, safe pedestrian and cycling routes. They believe governments need to act faster: adopt policies tailored to local conditions, covering the entire population and prioritizing the least active adolescents, for example by making schools and neighborhoods more conducive to movement. Separately, the authors argue, programs should address the barriers that make girls move less — restrictive gender norms, safety concerns, and a lack of suitable activities. Adolescence, meanwhile, is a key period for lifelong health: the benefits of regular activity during these years persist into adulthood.