WHO: one in four adolescents reported no day with 60 minutes of activity in the previous week

Children playing in a park; the work page gives February 13, 2023 as the date. Archival image, not a WHO survey scene. The location and identities have not been verified, and the image does not establish that the children belong to the 11–17 age group studied. Photo: Wasiul Bahar · CC BY-SA 4.0.

A duration threshold, not the absence of all movement

A global assessment released by the World Health Organization on November 4 estimates that in 2025 about one in four adolescents aged 11–17 worldwide, approximately 240 million people, reported no day with at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in the preceding week. Only 14% reported reaching that duration on all seven days, and the average was 2.7 qualifying days per week. The report examines trends from 2010 to 2025; these are not activity records collected on November 4 itself.¹²

The expression “no active days” needs to be read within that statistical definition. Failing to reach 60 minutes on any day does not mean doing no walking, playing or exercise throughout the week. Nor does the finding that 14% reached the duration every day establish that the remaining 86% failed physical-activity guidelines measured on a different basis. The indicator describes how often a particular daily duration threshold was met, not a complete record of every person's movement.¹²

Gender and country gaps point to unequal opportunities

The assessment brings together 389 population surveys from 140 countries and territories, covering more than 3.2 million adolescents. The share reporting no qualifying days was 28% among girls and 22% among boys; 11% of girls and 17% of boys reached the threshold every day. Country differences were also substantial: in some, about 4% reported no qualifying days, while in others the proportion exceeded 40%. WHO says the global picture has barely improved since 2010.¹²

These differences cannot simply be reduced to personal motivation. WHO identifies travel to school, safe walking and cycling routes, public spaces, school arrangements, costs and social norms as factors shaping opportunities to be active. Integrating activity into everyday travel and leisure environments may address a lack of opportunities more directly than merely asking adolescents to try harder to exercise. This policy implication does not establish that any one urban redesign has been proven to eliminate global disparities.¹

What the surveys show, and whom they may miss

The results rely on self-reported surveys and modelling, not real-time monitoring of every adolescent. Data coverage, survey years and living conditions differ between countries. Most information comes from school-based surveys, and some countries lack data. The estimates may therefore not fully represent adolescents who are out of school; treating the global estimate as a direct description of a particular school or city would also be inappropriate.³

The most useful next question is not simply whether the global average number of qualifying days rises. It is also whether girls and groups with fewer opportunities gain access to safer, affordable places for everyday activity. Assessing policy requires examining changes in activity alongside whether opportunities actually expand, rather than attributing failure to reach a duration threshold solely to a lack of individual effort.

Source notes

1. 2026-11-04 · One in four adolescents worldwide reported no active days in the previous week · World Health Organization ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. 2026-11-04 · A generation missing out: global trends in adolescent physical activity, 2010–2025 · World Health Organization ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. 2026-11-05 · Physical activity among adolescents, mean active days per week · World Health Organization · No separate publication date stated; accessed and checked 2026-11-05. ↩