Ten years ago, children were more active than they are now. That is according to the Food Consumption Survey by Sciensano, which assessed and measured the physical activity and sedentary behaviour of the Belgian population in 2022-2023. Only 31% of children aged 3 to 9 and 19% of adolescents aged 10 to 17 engage in sufficient physical activity. However, 46% of children and 41% of adolescents walk, bike or use a non-electrical scooter to get to school. In addition, they sit for one hour less per day compared to the previous survey conducted in 2014-2015.
Few children and adolescents meet physical activity guidelines
According to WHO guidelines, children aged 3 to 4 years old should have at least 180 minutes of physical activity per day, of which 60 minutes should be of moderate-to-vigorous intensity. Children aged 5 to 17 years old should have at least an average of 60 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity across the week and engage in vigorous physical activity at least three days a week. Only 31% of children aged 3 to 9 years and 19% of adolescents up to 17 years old meet these guidelines. “Our most recent survey shows that few children and adolescents meet these physical activity guidelines. That number has generally decreased compared to our previous survey in 2014-2015”, says Vicka Versele, researcher at Sciensano. The number of children and adolescents engaging in sufficient physical activity has decreased from 42% to 32% for children and from 29% to 18%for adolescents. Nevertheless, children often use active means of transport to get to school: 46% of children aged 3 to 9 and 41% of adolescents aged 10 to 17 walk or use a non-electrical bike or scooter to get to school. In addition, more children aged 3 to 9 are members of a sports club (64%) than in 2014-2015.
“We found that children and adolescents from families with parents with a high level of education engage in more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and have less screen time than children and adolescents who grow up in a family with parents with a low level of education. This is probably because parents with a high level of education have more resources to enrol their children in a sports club, and are also more aware of the health benefits of physical activity”, adds Vicka Versele.
10- to 17-year-olds have too much screen time
Children and adolescents spend a lot of their time sitting, both at school and at home: children aged 3 to 9 spend an average of 5 hours and 15 minutes per day sitting during the week, including screen time. 10- to 17-year-olds spend an average of 7 hours and 55 minutes per day sitting during the week, including screen time. “We do not see big differences compared to the previous survey in terms of screen time, except for 10-to 17-year-olds. They spend more time in front of a screen than 10 years ago: 81% of adolescents spend more than the recommended two hours per weekday in front of screens. We also see that younger children exceed the recommended screen time during their free time: 43% of 3- to 4-year-olds watch more than the recommended hour, and 28% of children aged 5 to 9 watch more than the recommended two hours. These numbers are higher during weekend days”, says Vicka Versele. Sedentary time among children and adolescents has decreased by around one hour per day compared to the previous survey, which can be linked to more light physical activity being reported.
As we age, we still move too little
The percentage of adults meeting the recommended 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity has remained unchanged since the previous survey. There is no difference between men and women, nor between regions. “We investigated how adults spend their active time: adults mostly spend their active time on home-related physical activity, such as doing housework or gardening. Besides the home context, they have the most physical activity in their free time, at work and through active forms of transport. Adults still spend too much of their time sitting: during the week, young adults aged 18 to 39 sit an average of 7 hours and 10 minutes per day; for middle-aged adults (40 to 64), this is 6 hours and 30 minutes per day. Adult sedentary time has not changed since our previous survey in 2014-2015”, says Vicka Versele. Moreover, 35% of women and 40% of men report spending four or more hours per day in front of a screen during their free time on weekdays.
A more active lifestyle is a collective effort
More physical activity, less sedentary behaviour and less screen time — that is the message for everyone: “Physical activity is good for our mental and physical health, right from childhood. Moving more and spending less time sitting ensures, for example, less obesity, a condition to which many diseases are linked. This should become part of our daily lives, but important players in this are, for example, schools and workplaces, which should provide more opportunities to engage in physical activity and interrupt long periods of sitting. Our environment can also be designed in such a way that more active ways of moving, such as walking or cycling, become easier. Community sports and exercise-friendly public spaces should be made more available to everyone”, concludes Vicka Versele.
Insufficient physical activity and high sedentary time are more common among adults with a low education level than those with a high education level. Many adults also report long hours of sedentary work and high screen time in their free time, especially on weekends. These patterns highlight the need for targeted interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour and promote physical activity in all age groups. Increasing physical activity levels through effective policies requires a collective effort, coordinated by different government departments such as health, transport, education, employment, sports, recreation, and urban planning1. In the future, Sciensano intends to continue working on increasing knowledge and insights on factors that influence physical activity. This could include aspects such as walkability, accessibility of parks, playgrounds and sports centres. There is a need for supporting policies and actions to make physical activity accessible to all and within different contexts.
Consult the full online report
1 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity