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WHO estimate: High-income regions have the most inactive people globally

2024-08-29 09:12:06Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

WHO estimate: High-income regions have the most inactive people globally

It's no secret that a healthy life requires regular and sufficient exercise, but globally, many adults are lacking in this department. Nearly a third of the global adult population, or about 1.8 billion people, did not achieve recommended levels of physical activity in 2022, according to a June 2024 report from the World Health Organization.

According to WHO standards, adults are recommended 150 minutes of moderate intensity, 75 minutes of vigorous intensity or the equivalent of physical activity per week. The highest prevalence of physical inactivity was seen in the high-income Asia-Pacific region (48%), which includes South Korea, Japan and Singapore. This is closely followed by the South Asia region (45%), which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Asia is about 30% of the world's population, but we carry almost 50% of the world's disease burden. We have more diabetics, we have more cancer patients, we have more cardiovascular patients than anywhere else in the world. Females on average showed higher physical inactivity (34%) compared to males (29%). This gap was most pronounced in the South Asian region, where physical inactivity among women was 14 percentage points higher than among men, according to the report published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

"Physical activity levels are determined by a number of factors," said Fiona Bull, head of the WHO's physical activity unit. These include personal motivation, time availability, as well as social and environmental factors, such as the habits of the people around us or even the temperature and climate of the region. "Women have many roles. They still do most of the family and home care, which can mean they have less time, [especially if they] are also working,” Bull said. "And certainly, for some populations, especially women and older adults ... it can be cultural and societal values," Bull said.

In children and teens, there can be pressure to focus on academics, leaving less time for exercise, according to Bull, and some of these habits can carry over into adulthood. There is no reason why some regions and groups are more physically active than others. The onus is on governments to create policy and commit resources to prioritizing and promoting health and well-being for their people, Bull said.

It is important that governments provide the necessary funding to create and maintain safe, clean, well-lit and accessible public spaces for their local communities to use for exercise, she suggested. People in general have become less active since 2000, as the prevalence of physical inactivity among adults globally in 2022 rose to 31.3%, from 26.4% recorded in 2010 and 23.4% in 2000, according to the study which is based on 507 surveys in 163. countries and territories.

This can be partly explained by the large adoption of technology in recent decades. Being physically active can also delay the onset of dementia, according to Bull. Dementia is currently a leading cause of death among the elderly, and as the global elderly population continues to grow, the number of people living with dementia is expected to reach 78 million by 2030, according to the WHO.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

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