How close people in Canada are to meeting physical activity recommendations:

On this page

• Why physical activity is important
• How much physical activity we need to stay healthy

Why physical activity is important

Staying physically active is good for the body and mind, no matter your age^{Footnote 1}.

Current data tells us a lot about who already meets physical activity recommendations. We know less about those who don’t, or how close they are to meeting the recommendations.

There are many factors, called social determinants of health, that affect how physically active a person is or can be. It’s important for us to monitor these factors, such as age and sex, so that we can consider their impact when planning our programs and health strategies.

Every minute of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity is good for your health^{Footnote 2Footnote 3}. People who are the least active will see the greatest benefits by adding any amount of physical activity to their daily life^{Footnote 2Footnote 3}. Moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) is any kind that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe harder^{Footnote 4}.

Increased physical activity can improve overall health and wellbeing, including:

• strengthened heart and lungs
• lower stress levels
• improved sleep quality
• enhanced balance and coordination

It can also help to prevent and manage some chronic diseases and conditions, as well as help you to maintain a healthy weight.

Increasing your physical activity could be as simple as riding a bike, or walking and wheeling,^{Footnote 2} to work, school or for errands.

Learn more about physical activity.

How much physical activity we need to stay healthy

According to current physical activity recommendations in Canada:

• children (5 to 11 years) and youth (12 to 17 years)^{Footnote 5} should get 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity per day
• adults (18 to 64 years) and older adults (65 to 79 years)^{Footnote 6} should get 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity per week

These Canadian recommendations are similar to those from the World Health Organization^{Footnote 4}.

Most people living in Canada don’t meet these recommended levels of activity.

Figure 1: Percentage of children youth adults older adults who are meeting and not meeting physical activity recommendations

We use physical activity recommendations to see what percentage of the population gets enough physical activity. These percentages are reported at the national level. Research shows that even being a little more active can make a big difference for your health and wellbeing^{Footnote 2}. Identifying who doesn’t meet those recommendations is important because it can help us understand who’s less active and create targeted strategies to encourage physical activity.

Among children and youth:

• 25% of youth and 10% of children get less than 30 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity per day
• 23% of females and 12% of males get less than 30 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity per day

Among adults and older adults:

• 57% of older adults and 26% of adults get less than 75 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity per week
• 28% of females and 34% of males get less than 75 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity per week

These numbers suggest that we should support initiatives that focus on increasing physical activity in:

• older adults
• youth in general
• female children and youth

The following graph shows how much of the population is above, below and near recommended thresholds for physical activity.

How to use the graph

1. Use the slider or select the minutes directly using the “From” and “To” boxes to select a range of minutes.
2. Use the drop-down menus to select age group and sex.
3. The graph will adjust to focus on the range you have selected.

The marks on the x axis represent the percentage just below that number. The first choice is the percent just under 20 minutes (19.99) for children and youth, and just below 25 minutes (24.99) for adults.

Figure 2: Distribution of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity for children youth adults older adults by both sexes

Data used in this study are from the Canadian Health Measures Survey. This survey is an ongoing repeated cross-sectional nationally-representative survey of people in Canada that collects health-related information and physical measures.

Learn about the survey, physical measures data collection, data collection periods, and methodology.

Study sample

We combined cycles 4, 5 and 6 (covering 2014 to 2019) of the Canadian Health Measures Survey to obtain a larger sample size. Our sample included:

• 3,910 children and youth aged 5 to 17 years
• 7,125 adults aged 18 to 79 years

Variables

Sex: Respondents are asked to self-report their sex, with the options of male or female. For children, this information is reported by their parents or guardians.

Age: Respondents are asked to self-report from age 5 to 79. For children aged 5 to 11 years, this information is reported by their parents or guardians.

Minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity: Respondents to the survey have their physical activity measured directly. One method of measurement is for them to wear an accelerometer for 7 consecutive days. The Canadian Health Measures Survey uses these measurements to collect data instead of asking respondents to self-report.

This report uses accelerometer data from people aged 5 to 79 years to explore distribution of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity. It uses metabolic equivalent of task values (METS) to classify time spent in different intensities of physical activity.

Methods

Distribution of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity is presented in:

• 10-minute intervals for children and youth, starting with under 20 minutes per day
  • 0 to 19 minutes per day, 20 to 29 minutes per day, and so on
• 25-minute intervals for adults and older adults
  • 0 to 24 minutes per week, 25 to 49 minutes per week, and so on

The overall sample assessed:

• the number of people in each interval
• intervals by age and sex

Related links

• Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Sleep (PASS) Indicators
• Measuring Bicycling Infrastructure Across Canada
• Physical Activity
• Canadian Risk Factor Atlas (CRFA)

References