Physical inactivity remains widespread across age groups and countries. In 2022, 31% of adults worldwide did not meet recommended physical activity levels, equal to approximately 1.8 billion people. Recent estimates also show substantial differences by sex, age, geography, and social circumstances. In the United States, about one-quarter of adults were classified as inactive in 2024, while far fewer older adults met both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines.
Contents
- Global adult burden and trajectory
- Differences by sex, age, and region
- Adolescents worldwide
- U.S. adult activity and guideline gaps
- U.S. differences by race and location
- Older adults in the United States
Global adult burden and trajectory
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 31% of adults worldwide did not meet recommended physical activity levels in 2022. The same estimate corresponds to approximately 1.8 billion physically inactive adults. These figures describe adults who fell below recommended activity levels, rather than people who did no movement at all. WHO, “Physical activity” and WHO, “Nearly 1.8 billion adults at risk of disease from not doing enough physical activity”
The global adult estimate increased by about 5 percentage points between 2010 and 2022. If the observed trend continues, 35% of adults are projected to be physically inactive in 2030. That is a forecast, not a measurement of the future, and it assumes the trend described by the WHO continues. WHO, “Nearly 1.8 billion adults at risk of disease from not doing enough physical activity”
The economic implications are also substantial. Physical inactivity is estimated to cost public health care systems about US$300 billion during 2020–2030 if levels are not reduced. This is an estimate covering that decade, not a reported bill for a single year. WHO, “Physical activity”
Reported 2022 adult inactivity rates varied considerably among global country groupings:
| Country grouping | Adult physical inactivity, 2022 |
|---|---|
| High-income Asia Pacific | 48% |
| South Asia | 45% |
| High-income Western countries | 28% |
| Oceania | 14% |
Oceania had the lowest reported adult physical inactivity level among the cited country groupings at 14%. The high-income Asia Pacific rate was more than three times that level at 48%, while South Asia was 45%. These are grouping-level estimates and should not be treated as a ranking of every individual country. WHO, “Nearly 1.8 billion adults at risk of disease from not doing enough physical activity”
Differences by sex, age, and region
Globally, adult physical inactivity in 2022 was 34% among women and 29% among men. The difference was not uniform everywhere: the WHO reported that the sex gap reached as much as 20 percentage points in some countries. The global figures therefore describe a broad pattern, while country-level gaps can be considerably wider. WHO, “Nearly 1.8 billion adults at risk of disease from not doing enough physical activity”
WHO also reported that physical inactivity levels increase in both men and women after age 60, based on the latest WHO global estimates reported in 2024. This age pattern is distinct from the 2022 all-adult estimates and should not be read as a separate 2022 percentage for older adults. WHO, “Physical activity”
Regional estimates further illustrate the range:
- Adult physical inactivity was 40% in both the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region and the WHO South-East Asia Region in 2022.
- The WHO Western Pacific Region reported 28%, while the WHO European Region reported 25%.
- The WHO African Region reported 16%.
Among women, the 2022 estimates were 48% in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 45% in South-East Asia, 41% in the Region of the Americas, 28% in the European Region, and 20% in the African Region. These regional figures come from the WHO report Global levels of physical inactivity in adults: off track for 2030. WHO report
The regional pattern is important because a single global percentage conceals very different levels of inactivity. It also shows why comparisons should retain the geography and measurement year: the 2022 regional estimates are not interchangeable with the later global adolescent estimate or with U.S. monitoring data.
Adolescents worldwide
Physical inactivity is also pronounced among adolescents. The latest global estimate reported by WHO in 2024 found that 81% of adolescents aged 11–17 years were physically inactive. In the same estimate, 85% of adolescent girls did not meet WHO physical activity guidelines, compared with 78% of adolescent boys.
The adolescent estimates use a different age range and measurement context from the global adult estimates. They should therefore be read as evidence of a separate youth burden, not combined mathematically with the 31% adult estimate. The sex difference among adolescents is 7 percentage points in the reported figures. WHO, “Physical activity”
U.S. adult activity and guideline gaps
CDC monitoring data classified 27.0% of U.S. adults as inactive in 2020, 27.2% in 2022, and 26.2% in 2024. Across those observations, the reported share remained close to one in four adults, with the 2024 estimate lower than the 2022 estimate. CDC, “Data and Progress | Active People, Healthy Nation”
The same CDC series reported that 47.1% of U.S. adults met the aerobic physical activity guidelines in 2020, 47.3% did so in 2022, and 47.2% did so in 2024. Meeting an aerobic guideline is not the same measure as being classified as inactive, so these percentages should not be subtracted from one another to create an inactivity rate.
Youth guideline attainment was much lower in the cited U.S. observations: 23.2% of youth met the aerobic physical activity guidelines in 2019, 23.9% in 2021, and 24.6% in 2023. These youth measurements span different years from the adult 2020–2024 observations. CDC, “Data and Progress | Active People, Healthy Nation”
The Healthy People 2030 measure adds muscle strengthening to aerobic activity. Under that measure, 25.2% of U.S. adults aged 18 and over met both guidelines during leisure time in 2020, compared with 26.4% in 2024. The increase is measured in percentage points, but the two-guildeline measure should be kept separate from the CDC’s aerobic-only measure. Healthy People 2030, “Increase the proportion of adults who do enough aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity”
U.S. differences by race and location
Combined 2017–2020 BRFSS data put the overall prevalence of physical inactivity outside of work among U.S. adults at 25.3%. The measure excludes activity performed at work, so it is not identical to every CDC national inactivity estimate above. CDC, “Adult Physical Inactivity Outside of Work”
The reported prevalence differed by race and ethnicity:
- Non-Hispanic Asian adults: 20.1%
- Non-Hispanic White adults: 23.0%
- Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native adults: 29.1%
- Non-Hispanic Black adults: 30.0%
- Hispanic or Latino adults: 32.1%
The same 2017–2020 data showed geographic differences. The South had the highest regional prevalence at 27.5%, followed by the Midwest at 25.2%, the Northeast at 24.7%, and the West at 21.0%. Colorado had the lowest state prevalence at 17.7%. Puerto Rico had the highest jurisdiction prevalence at 49.4%, and seven states plus Puerto Rico had prevalence of at least 30%.
These estimates describe physical inactivity outside of work and cover a combined four-year period. They are useful for identifying disparities, but they should not be interpreted as a 2024 national snapshot. CDC, “Adult Physical Inactivity Outside of Work”
Older adults in the United States
Among U.S. adults aged 65 and older, 13.9% met both federal aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines in 2022. Attainment declined with age: 16.8% of adults aged 65–74 met both guidelines, compared with 12.3% of those aged 75–84 and 6.2% of those aged 85 and older. CDC National Center for Health Statistics, “Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022”
Among adults aged 65 and older, 16.9% of men and 11.5% of women met both guidelines in 2022. By race and ethnicity, 15.2% of non-Hispanic White adults met both guidelines, compared with 10.2% of non-Hispanic Black adults.
Location and education were also associated with different reported levels. In the South, 12.0% of adults aged 65 and older met both guidelines, compared with 14.7% in metropolitan areas and 10.0% in nonmetropolitan areas. Only 4.5% of adults aged 65 and older with less than a high school diploma or GED met both federal guidelines.
Together, these 2022 estimates show that guideline attainment among older adults varied by age, sex, race, geography, and education. Because the measure requires both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity, it represents a narrower standard than an aerobic-only activity measure. CDC National Center for Health Statistics, “Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022”