Insufficient physical activity variations

Background

This chapter uses data from the 2017–18 National Health Survey, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to investigate in greater depth exactly how much physical and muscle strengthening activity is being done by adults aged 18 and over, and adolescents aged 15 to 17, who did not meet the recommended amount of physical activity according to the Australian Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour guidelines (Department of Health 2017) (the guidelines).

It examines the number of days on which physical activity was undertaken, the number of minutes performed, broken down into 30 minute increments, for those aged 18 and over, and 60 minute increments for 15 to 17 year olds. It also looks the number of days on which muscle strengthening activities were performed in the last week.

How inactive are people overall?

In 2017–18, the majority of people across all age groups, with the exception of males aged 18 to 64, did not meet their age-appropriate guidelines for physical activity or muscle strengthening activity. Just under half (46%) of adult men aged 18 to 64 did not meet the physical activity component of the guideline. Those in the youngest (15 to 17) and oldest (65 and over) age groups were less likely to meet either the physical activity or muscle strengthening activity components of the guidelines compared with those in the 18 to 64 age group.

A greater proportion of females did not meet either component of the guideline across all age groups, with females aged 15 to 17 having the highest proportion not meeting the guideline for physical activity (95%, compared with 84% of males aged 15 to 17) and muscle strengthening activity (91%, compared with 78% of males aged 15 to 17).

It should be noted that, as the guidelines recommend different amounts of physical activity are required at various stages of life, the calculation of those not meeting the guidelines varies accordingly. For this reason, caution should be exercised in drawing direct comparisons between age groups.

The first dashboard describes the proportion of people aged 15 to 17, 18 to 64, and 65 and over who did not do sufficient activity in the previous week to meet the physical activity component of their age-appropriate guidelines. A high proportion of both males (84%) and females (95%) aged 15 to 17 did not meet the physical activity component of the guidelines. Similarly, the majority of people aged 65 and over did not meet the physical activity component of the guideline – 69% of men and 75% of women. Close to half of men (46%) and women (55%) aged 18 to 64 did not meet the physical activity component of the guideline.

The additional dashboard inside the below visualisation provides the breakdown of those failing to meet the muscle strengthening component of the guideline, by age and sex, in the previous week. The majority of all age groups failed to meet the muscle strengthening component of the guideline.

How does insufficient physical activity vary by age?

How does insufficient muscle strengthening activity vary by age?