World Health Organization finds almost no progress in fifteen years on getting adolescents moving

4 November 2026

The World Health Organization has released a report titled 'A generation missing out: Global trends in adolescent physical activity, 2010-2025'. Its estimates rest on 389 surveys of the general population, taken in 140 countries and territories and covering more than 3.2 million young people. About one in four adolescents, some 240 million aged 11 to 17, did not get even 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity on any day in the week before they were asked. On average, adolescents were active on 2.7 days a week, and only 14 per cent were active on all seven days. In 2025, 86 per cent reported fewer than seven active days, the same as in 2010. Girls fare worse than boys: 28 per cent of girls reported no active days against 22 per cent of boys. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world has made almost no progress in fifteen years. The global target of cutting physical inactivity by 15 per cent by 2030 is off track, with no country on course to meet it.