Mapped: Countries Where People Don’t Exercise Enough

Pallavi Rao
2025-04-25 08:10:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

Mapped: Countries Where People Don’t Exercise Enough

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The World Health Organization recommends 2.5 hours of moderate activity or 1.25 hours of vigorous activity every week.

What counts as moderate and vigorous activity?

A good rule of thumb is checking heart rate and breathing. If you can talk but not sing while doing the activity (walking, hiking), then it’s a moderate level of exercise.

Running and high-intensity sports are in the vigorous zone.

Using the latest data from a study published by The Lancet Global Health in 2024, we map the countries by the share of their population who aren’t meeting minimum exercise requirements.

Ranked: Countries That Don’t Get Enough Exercise

At the very top of the list, two-thirds of UAE’s population isn’t meeting minimum physical activity guidelines. This is the highest rate for any country in the study.

Rank	Country/Territory	% of population with insufficient physical activity
1	UAE	66%
2	Kuwait	63%
3	Cuba	61%
4	Lebanon	59%
5	South Korea	58%
6	Panama	58%
7	Qatar	54%
8	Iraq	52%
9	Portugal	52%
10	Saudi Arabia	52%
11	Costa Rica	50%
12	India	49%
13	Suriname	49%
14	Iran	46%
15	Pakistan	46%
16	Venezuela	46%
17	Libya	46%
18	Philippines	46%
19	Serbia	45%
20	South Africa	45%
21	Japan	45%
22	Trinidad & Tobago	45%
23	Türkiye	44%
24	Barbados	44%
25	Saint Kitts & Nevis	42%
26	Puerto Rico	42%
27	Belize	42%
28	Oman	41%
29	Cyprus	41%
30	Malta	41%
31	Brazil	40%
32	Italy	40%
33	Malaysia	40%
34	El Salvador	39%
35	Nicaragua	39%
36	Bahrain	39%
37	Jamaica	39%
38	Argentina	39%
39	Mauritania	39%
40	Chile	38%
41	Antigua & Barbuda	38%
42	Syria	38%
43	Bahamas	37%
44	Canada	37%
45	Sri Lanka	37%
46	Dominican Republic	37%
47	Poland	37%
48	Guatemala	37%
49	Honduras	37%
50	Romania	37%
51	Paraguay	36%
52	Grenada	36%
53	Tajikistan	36%
54	Nauru	36%
55	Greece	35%
56	Guyana	35%
57	Norway	35%
58	Peru	35%
59	Colombia	34%
60	Egypt	34%
61	Uruguay	34%
62	U.S.	34%
63	Afghanistan	33%
64	Tunisia	33%
65	Brunei	33%
66	Bulgaria	32%
67	Kiribati	32%
68	Uzbekistan	32%
69	Cabo Verde	31%
70	Tonga	31%
71	Dominica	31%
72	Saint Vincent & the Grenadines	31%
73	Vietnam	30%
74	Mauritius	30%
75	Mali	30%
76	Palestine	30%
77	Hungary	29%
78	Micronesia	29%
79	Yemen	29%
80	Algeria	29%
81	Thailand	29%
82	Croatia	28%
83	Haiti	28%
84	Jordan	28%
85	Kazakhstan	28%
86	Mexico	28%
87	Mongolia	28%
88	Taiwan	27%
89	Andorra	27%
90	North Korea	27%
91	Timor-Leste	27%
92	Armenia	27%
93	Israel	27%
94	North Macedonia	26%
95	Palau	26%
96	Iceland	26%
97	San Marino	26%
98	Australia	26%
99	Monaco	26%
100	Belgium	25%
101	Cook Islands	25%
102	Namibia	25%
103	Maldives	25%
104	Morocco	25%
105	Marshall Islands	24%
106	Tuvalu	24%
107	Albania	24%
108	Georgia	24%
109	Azerbaijan	24%
110	China	24%
111	Czechia	23%
112	Slovakia	23%
113	France	23%
114	Singapore	23%
115	Ecuador	23%
116	Montenegro	23%
117	Bolivia	23%
118	Botswana	22%
119	Myanmar	22%
120	Ireland	22%
121	Spain	22%
122	Ghana	21%
123	Gambia	21%
124	Bosnia & Herzegovina	21%
125	Saint Lucia	21%
126	Gabon	21%
127	Seychelles	20%
128	Bangladesh	20%
129	Lithuania	20%
130	Kyrgyzstan	20%
131	Austria	20%
132	Côte d’Ivoire	20%
133	Equatorial Guinea	20%
134	Eswatini	19%
135	Sudan	19%
136	Switzerland	19%
137	UK	19%
138	Indonesia	19%
139	Slovenia	19%
140	Cameroon	19%
141	New Zealand	19%
142	São Tomé & Príncipe	18%
143	Nigeria	18%
144	Russia	18%
145	Somalia	18%
146	Benin	18%
147	Chad	18%
148	Zimbabwe	18%
149	Guinea-Bissau	18%
150	Solomon Islands	18%
151	Angola	17%
152	Comoros	17%
153	Djibouti	17%
154	Burkina Faso	17%
155	Guinea	17%
156	Senegal	17%
157	Central African Republic	17%
158	South Sudan	16%
159	Niger	16%
160	Congo	16%
161	Estonia	16%
162	Laos	16%
163	Fiji	16%
164	DRC	15%
165	Togo	15%
166	Liberia	15%
167	Latvia	15%
168	Burundi	14%
169	Zambia	14%
170	Belarus	14%
171	Luxembourg	14%
172	Madagascar	14%
173	Samoa	14%
174	Cambodia	13%
175	Sierra Leone	13%
176	Ukraine	13%
177	Papua New Guinea	13%
178	Denmark	12%
179	Turkmenistan	12%
180	Germany	12%
181	Eritrea	12%
182	Moldova	11%
183	Bhutan	10%
184	Mozambique	10%
185	Finland	10%
186	Ethiopia	9%
187	Netherlands	9%
188	Rwanda	9%
189	Kenya	9%
190	Sweden	9%
191	Nepal	8%
192	Lesotho	8%
193	Vanuatu	8%
194	Niue	7%
195	Uganda	6%
196	Tanzania	4%
197	Malawi	3%

Note: Data collected between 2022–2024, via surveys and national statistics programs, published August 2024. Figures are age-standardized, averaged between sexes, and rounded.

In fact, the Middle East and West and South Asia are all swathes of red—indicating about half of the population isn’t exercising enough.

On the other hand, East and Southeast Asian countries are a little better when it comes to physical activity.

Interestingly Japan—known for their longevity—isn’t technically exercising enough by the specified guidelines. However the Japanese are also known for their walkable cities and excellent diet, both points in their favor.

Meanwhile, most people in Europe and Africa meet the requirements. Sub-Saharan Africa in particular is very active, but there are economic reasons at play here as well: a greater share of the population in poorer countries are often employed in subsistence farming or manual labor.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To see the correlation between exercise levels and incomes check out The Global Population by Income Group for a quick overview.

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