Does every move really count towards better health?

In 2012, as part of the first Lancet Series on physical activity, data from 122 countries and territories were used to produce the first ever estimate of the global burden of physical inactivity among adults, showing a prevalence of 31·1%.

Now, after more than a decade and using data from 507 surveys with more than 5·7 million people from 163 countries and territories, Tessa Strain and colleagues estimated that 31·3% of the adults worldwide are physically inactive and provide insights on the effect of inactivity on global health. The Article offers a wealth of national, regional, and age-specific information for researchers, policy makers, and health professionals. However, it is of note that despite the unequivocal progress in surveillance, data availability, and global capacity in physical activity research and policy, the world is yet to observe declining trends in physical inactivity. Therefore, Strain and colleagues, correctly predict that the global target of a 15·0% relative reduction in physical inactivity between 2010 and 2030 is unlikely to be met. In this Comment, we present a new perspective for estimating and monitoring the burden of physical inactivity in the Global South, and propose new directions for global physical activity surveillance, research, and policy.

Read more here.