New data from the World Health Organization (WHO) represent a wake-up call for health and exercise professionals. The title of the WHO’s press release says it all: Nearly 1.8 Billion Adults at Risk of Disease from Not Doing Enough Physical Activity. That means that nearly one-third of adults worldwide do not meet the recommendation for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, or some combination of the two, each week.  

Physical inactivity impacts both the individual and the world. For the individual, insufficient physical activity increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and other non-communicable diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. On a global scale, it increases the burden on health systems and has a negative impact on the economy and communities.  

To make matters worse, the number of insufficiently active adults rose by approximately 5 percentage points between 2010 and 2022, despite global efforts to reverse this trend. It begs the question: What can we do differently as an industry and as individual professionals to make a more meaningful impact on people’s physical-activity levels? 

Before exploring what this means to you as a health coach or exercise professional, let’s first dig a little deeper into the numbers. This map of the prevalence of insufficient physical activity reveals some interesting data. For example, while the United States is slightly less active than the global average (33.7% vs. 31.0%), the most active nations are in Scandinavia [Sweden (8.7%) and Finland (9.6%)] and East Africa, where seven of the world’s most active populations can be found, with Malawi leading the way with only 2.7% of its adult population being physically inactive.  

What can we learn from the way the people in these countries incorporate physical activity into their daily lifestyle? 

Some Good News

There is some good news hidden in the numbers. Almost half of the world’s countries have made improvements in the past decade, and 22 countries were identified as likely to reach the WHO’s goal of reducing physical activity by 15% by 2030.  

Inspired by these positive trends, the WHO is “calling on countries to strengthen their policy implementation to promote and enable physical activity through grassroots and community sport and active recreation and transport (walking, cycling and use of public transport), among other measures.” 

How You Can Help 

And this is where you come in, at the grassroots level. The WHO’s report challenges us all to think more creatively about behavior change and how we can help clients and communities get moving. The challenge lies in broadening our reach so that we are serving people who are not traditionally a part of the fitness industry.  

Ask yourself, how can I reach more people and inspire them to become physically active? 

“These findings underscore the urgent need for innovative strategies and proactive measures to address physical inactivity,” says Cedric X. Bryant, PhD, FACSM, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Council on Exercise. “As exercise professionals, we must lead by example and harness our knowledge and passion to inspire more people to embrace active lifestyles.”

To learn more about how these data were collected and explore breakdowns by sex, age, region and income level, read the peer-reviewed research.