Indian adolescents 8th most physically active in the world: Report

India is ranked among the top ten countries in the list of most physically active adolescents, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) study. While Bangladesh tops the list with most active teenagers, USA comes fourth in the list of 146 countries. India is ranked eighth overall, with almost 26.1 per cent of its adolescents leading a healthy life. The Philippines was the most inactive country among boys, whereas South Korea had the least active girl adolescents, with just 3 per cent indulging in physical activity daily.

The new WHO study also finds that at least 80% of the school-goers who are in their teen years do not have an hour of physical activity a day. In a study by the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, the reason for the high activity among teenagers in India could be due to the high craze for sports like cricket, while in the USA, the focus on sports like volleyball, football and baseball have ensured more adolescents take the field.

The data were pooled from 298 schools in 146 nations and covered almost 1.6 million children aged 11 to 17 years. The assessment also included all types of physical activity like active play, recreation, sports, domestic chores, cycling, planned exercise or active transportation.

In India, the rate of inactivity among adolescents was 76.7 per cent in 2001, which has now decreased to 73.9 per cent in 2016. This has a lot to do with the increased interest in sports, with parents even pushing their kids further into pursuing sports as a profession. Among boys, the level of inactivity has gone down to 71.8 per cent from 76.6 per cent in 2016. Among girls, the level of inactivity has slipped from 76.6 per cent in 2001 to 76.3 per cent in 2016.

A reason for this could be that boys are pushed towards sports more than girls are, though the trend is slowly changing.