Which are the laziest countries on earth?

18 Jul 2024, 00:00

How active are you - and how do you compare? Photograph: Graham Turner/ Guardian

This may be an Olympic summer, but the majority of Britons are more likely to watch the athletes rather than try and emulate them.

Research published in the Lancet today shows that the UK, Sarah Boseley writes

has the third most slothful population in Europe, with two-thirds of adults failing to take enough physical exercise to keep themselves healthy, according to research. Only in Malta and Serbia do the over-15s exert themselves less than in the UK

The report shows that:

• In the UK, 63.3% of adults (with higher rates in women than in men) do not meet recommended amounts of activity, such as walking briskly for 30 minutes or more five times a week or taking more vigorous exercise for 20 minutes three times a week
• The US scores 41% and Canada 34%
• In Malta, 71.9% of adults are inactive and in Serbia the proportion is 68.3%
• The most active countries are Greece, where 16% are inactive, Estonia (17%) and the Netherlands (18%)

Inactivity causes between 6% and 10% of four major diseases – coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and breast and colon cancer, reported the Lancet. In 2008, it was responsible for about 5.3 million out of the 57 million deaths worldwide.

The full data is below. What can you do with it?

Data summary

Inactive adults rate by country

Click heading to sort table. Download this data

Country	Region	Both sexes, %	Men, %	Women, %

Algeria	African Region	40.5	31.9	49.2
Benin	African Region	9.1	7.1	11.2
Botswana	African Region	35.2	26.3	44.1
Burkina Faso	African Region	15.5	14.6	16.3
Cameroon	African Region	40.7	33	48.3
Cape Verde	African Region	20.7	12.1	29.4
Chad	African Region	24.5	22.8	26.2
Comoros	African Region	8.3	6.1	10.6
Congo	African Region	48.6	44.4	52.9
Côte d'Ivoire	African Region	32.8	28.8	36.9
Dem. Rep. of Congo	African Region	45.2	38.4	52
Eritrea	African Region	40.4	26	54.8
Ethiopia	African Region	19.3	16.5	22.1
Gabon	African Region	36.6	26.8	46.4
Gambia	African Region	24.5	20.4	28.7
Ghana	African Region	17.6	14.4	20.8
Guinea	African Region	12.1	6.1	18.1
Kenya	African Region	16.5	15.1	18
Madagascar	African Region	23.3	18.3	28.3
Malawi	African Region	10.2	7.3	13.2
Mali	African Region	20.9	17.9	23.8
Mauritania	African Region	43.8	40	47.6
Mauritius	African Region	38.6	38.2	39.1
Mozambique	African Region	7.1	6.7	7.4
Namibia	African Region	58.5	51.9	65.1
Niger	African Region	29.3	24.4	34.2
São Tomé and Principe	African Region	19	11.6	26.3
Sierra Leone	African Region	19.9	16.2	23.6
South Africa	African Region	52.4	48.4	56.5
Swaziland	African Region	69	65.9	72.1
Zambia	African Region	17.2	15.1	19.3
Zimbabwe	African Region	23.8	21.8	25.8
Iran	Eastern Mediterranean Region	37	27.1	47
Iraq	Eastern Mediterranean Region	58.4	62.8	54
Kuwait	Eastern Mediterranean Region	64.5	56.9	72.1
Lebanon	Eastern Mediterranean Region	46.8	51.9	41.7
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	Eastern Mediterranean Region	45.8	37.3	54.4
Pakistan	Eastern Mediterranean Region	40.4	32.7	48.1
Saudi Arabia	Eastern Mediterranean Region	68.8	61.5	76.2
Tunisia	Eastern Mediterranean Region	35.9	31.5	40.3
United Arab Emirates	Eastern Mediterranean Region	62.5	56.1	68.9
Austria	European Region	34.8	30.3	39.2
Belgium	European Region	42.7	40.4	45
Bosnia and Herzegovina	European Region	33.6	30.3	37
Bulgaria	European Region	26.8	24.7	28.8
Croatia	European Region	23.6	26.2	21
Cyprus	European Region	55.4	48.1	62.6
Czech Republic	European Region	25	27.6	22.3
Denmark	European Region	35.1	34.8	35.4
Estonia	European Region	17.2	15.7	18.8
Finland	European Region	37.8	40.8	34.9
France	European Region	32.5	27.7	37.2
Georgia	European Region	22.3	21.1	23.5
Germany	European Region	28	27.5	28.5
Greece	European Region	15.6	16.7	14.5
Hungary	European Region	26	26.4	25.6
Ireland	European Region	53.2	47.8	58.5
Italy	European Region	54.7	49.6	59.8
Kazakhstan	European Region	31.5	32	31
Latvia	European Region	32	28.1	35.9
Lithuania	European Region	22.6	20.3	24.9
Luxembourg	European Region	47.7	49.9	45.5
Malta	European Region	71.9	70.7	73.1
Netherlands	European Region	18.2	21.3	15.2
Norway	European Region	44.2	43.4	45
Poland	European Region	27.6	23.5	31.6
Portugal	European Region	51	47.5	54.4
Romania	European Region	38.7	31.2	46.2
Russian Federation	European Region	20.8	22.7	18.8
Serbia	European Region	68.3	63.2	73.3
Slovakia	European Region	22.2	23.3	21.2
Slovenia	European Region	30	26.5	33.6
Spain	European Region	50.2	47.4	53.1
Sweden	European Region	44.2	44.1	44.3
Turkey	European Region	56	49.5	62.5
Ukraine	European Region	18.4	20.4	16.3
United Kingdom	European Region	63.3	58	68.6
Argentina	Region of the Americas	68.3	65.8	70.9
Barbados	Region of the Americas	46.9	38.3	55.6
Brazil	Region of the Americas	49.2	47.2	51.6
Canada	Region of the Americas	33.9	32.3	35.4
Colombia	Region of the Americas	43.9	39.7	48
Dominica	Region of the Americas	24.4	14.3	34.4
Dominican Republic	Region of the Americas	60	57	62.9
Ecuador	Region of the Americas	42.6	37	48.3
Guatemala	Region of the Americas	16.2	15.3	17
Mexico	Region of the Americas	37.7	37.1	38.4
Paraguay	Region of the Americas	41.3	40.7	42
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Region of the Americas	38.3	28.7	47.9
United States of America	Region of the Americas	40.5	33.5	47.4
Uruguay	Region of the Americas	34.1	28	40.2
Bangladesh	South-East Asia Region	4.7	2.7	6.6
Bhutan	South-East Asia Region	52.3	40.9	63.6
India	South-East Asia Region	15.6	12.7	18.4
Indonesia	South-East Asia Region	29.8	31.5	28.1
Malaysia	South-East Asia Region	61.4	57.3	65.6
Maldives	South-East Asia Region	39	36.6	41.3
Myanmar	South-East Asia Region	12.7	10.4	14.9
Nepal	South-East Asia Region	15.5	13.9	17
Seychelles	South-East Asia Region	22.4	22.4	22.4
Sri Lanka	South-East Asia Region	25.9	18.5	33.3
Thailand	South-East Asia Region	19.2	17.1	21.4
Australia	Western Pacific Region	37.9	35.9	39.9
Cambodia	Western Pacific Region	11.2	11.4	11.1
China	Western Pacific Region	31	29.7	32.3
Japan	Western Pacific Region	60.2	58.9	61.6
Kiribati	Western Pacific Region	46.7	38.4	54.9
Lao People's Dem. Rep.	Western Pacific Region	18.8	16.7	21
Marshall Islands	Western Pacific Region	49.6	43.5	55.7
Micronesia	Western Pacific Region	66.3	58.2	74.4
Mongolia	Western Pacific Region	9.4	9.3	9.5
Nauru	Western Pacific Region	46.5	43	50
New Zealand	Western Pacific Region	47.7	45	50.4
Papua New Guinea	Western Pacific Region	19.3	17.2	21.5
Philippines	Western Pacific Region	23.7	21.2	26.2
Samoa	Western Pacific Region	51.1	36.8	65.4
Solomon Islands	Western Pacific Region	43.7	38	49.5
Tonga	Western Pacific Region	41.8	31.8	51.9
Vietnam	Western Pacific Region	15.3	14.6	15.9

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet

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• The entry for Bhutan in the data table above was amended on 19 July 2012, because it was originally listed as being in the "African Region".

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Which are the laziest countries on earth? | News

How active are you - and how do you compare? Photograph: Graham Turner/ Guardian This may be an Olympic summer, but the majority of Britons are more likely to watch the athletes rather than try and emulate them.