Bad newsTeenage Inactivity Unchanged Since 2010 as Girls Lag and No Country Is on Track
WHO says one in four teenagers, about 240 million, was active on no day of the week, and levels have barely moved since 2010. No country is on track for the 2030 target, and girls are further behind.
This story runs on the bad side only. The biggest stories of the day are told on both sides.
One in four teenagers worldwide did not manage 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity on a single day in the previous week. The World Health Organization published the estimate on 4 November. It amounts to about 240 million young people aged 11 to 17, and the share has barely moved since 2010.
The report, A generation missing out, draws on 389 surveys from 140 countries and territories covering more than 3.2 million adolescents. On average, teenagers reported being active on 2.7 days a week. Only 14% were active on all seven days, and 86% reported fewer than seven active days in 2025, the same share as in 2010.
Girls further behind
The gender gap persists. Some 28% of girls reported no active days, against 22% of boys, and only 11% of girls were active every day, against 17% of boys. Girls were less active than boys in almost every country and every WHO region. National figures range widely: in some countries 4% of adolescents reported no active days, and in others more than 40%.
In the UK, only 17% of adolescents are active each day, with 13% of girls and 21% of boys, according to Sky News. Finland stands at 28% and Canada at 25%. The study’s lead author, Tessa Strain of the University of Edinburgh, said older teens are less active than younger ones.
No country on track
WHO says no country is on track for the global target of a 15% relative cut in physical inactivity by 2030. Without faster action, it projects adolescent inactivity to stay largely unchanged for the rest of the decade. Inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.
WHO names no single cause. Transport patterns, access to safe public spaces, school environments, affordability, social norms and screen-based lifestyles all shape how much young people move. Its Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the answer is not to tell adolescents to try harder but to build schools, streets and communities where being active is safe and easy.
What would change it
The agency calls for action across education, transport, urban planning, sport and health, with specific attention to the barriers girls face. That includes more activity in schools and safe routes for walking and cycling. Neither source costs the changes or says which countries have started, so the cost and the order of priority remain unanswered for now.
