Physical activity statistics 2012

This new British Heart Foundation supplement is the first to focus solely on physical activity statistics. It provides statistics on the levels, types and reasons for physical activity in the UK.

Physical activity statistics is divided into seven chapters.

1. Describes the proportion of people within the UK achieving the Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO) recommendations for weekly physical activity levels.
2. Describes daily minutes of physical activity for both adults and children.
3. Compares physical activity levels in countries of the European Union (EU).
4. Describes the types of physical activity individuals are engaging in, comparing physical activity inside and outside the workplace.
5. Details the means by which people travel, with a particular focus on active travel: walking and cycling.
6. Describes the factors that influence physical activity including knowledge, attitude and motivation along with the activity environment, physical education (PE) and sport in schools.
7. Presents statistics on levels and types of sedentary behaviour.

Each chapter contains a set of tables and figures to illustrate key points and a brief review of the data presented. Physical activity levels can be measured either through asking people to report how much exercise they do (self-report), or by objectively measuring the amount of exercise a person is doing using tools such as accelerometers.

All of the tables and figures presented in Physical activity statistics can also be found on the British Heart Foundation’s Heart statistics website www.bhf.org.uk/research/statistics. The website is updated on an ongoing basis and contains a wider range of tables and figures than is available in the Coronary Heart Disease Statistics series of publications.

Download: Physical activity statistics 2012