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Physical Inactivity
Physical activity includes any physical movement produced by the skeletal muscles that leads to an increase in energy expenditure above the basal metabolic rate (Caspersen et al., 1985). During childhood and adolescence, regular physical activity is important for physical health (Janssen and Leblanc, 2021). For example, physically inactive children and adolescents have a less favourable cardiovascular risk profile compared to physically active ones (Hallal et al., 2006). In addition, longitudinal studies show that an inactive lifestyle acquired in childhood and adolescence often continues into adulthood, increasing the risk of developing non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes (Telema, 2009). The World Health Organization (WHO) therefore recommends that 3 to 17-year-old girls and boys undertake an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate to very strenuous physical activity per day (Bull et al. 2020). The WHO has thus updated its recommendation, valid since 2010, according to which children and adolescents should still engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate to very strenuous physical activity per day (WHO, 2010). The indicator physical inactivity is based on the WHO’s 2010 minimum recommendation and describes the proportion of 3 to 17-year-old girls and boys who are not physically active for at least 60 minutes per day in a moderate to very strenuous way.
Key messages
- Almost three quarters of children and adolescents are physically inactive.
- Girls are more likely to be physically inactive than boys, and the prevalence of physical inactivity increases with age.
- There are no differences between children and adolescents in terms of physical inactivity by education group.
trend
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cross-section
By state
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By gender
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By age
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By education group
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Results
In 2015, the prevalence of physical inactivity among children and adolescents was 74.0% (girls: 77.6%; boys: 70.6%). The proportion of physically inactive children and adolescents increases with age, from 54.2% among 3- to 6-year-olds to 88.2% among 14- to 17-year-olds. There are also differences in physical inactivity by region of residence: children and adolescents in the centre-west are more likely to be physically inactive than their peers in the north-east (75.3% and 70.0%, respectively). There are no differences in physical inactivity between different education groups (lower: 71.9%, middle: 75.6%, upper: 73.0%). Compared to 2010 (72.5%), the proportion of physically inactive children and adolescents has stagnated at a high level of 74.0% in 2015.
Conclusion
Data from KiGGS Wave 2 demonstrate that almost three quarters of children and adolescents are physically inactive at a young age (Finger et al., 2018). No differences were identified between education groups. Analyses based on data from KiGGS Wave 1 (2009-2011), however, suggest that children and adolescents from families in the high socio-economic status group are more often active in sports and members of sports clubs than children and adolescents in the low socio-economic status group (Manz et al., 2014). An important goal, therefore, should be to further expand measures that promote physical activity in childhood and adolescence, as envisaged in the National Recommendations for Physical Activity and for Physical Activity Promotion (Rütten and Pfeifer, 2016).