One in four teenagers worldwide had no active day in a week, WHO warns, with Filipino teens among the least active
A World Health Organization analysis of more than 3.2 million adolescents in 140 countries finds about 240 million young people reported no day with an hour of moderate-to-vigorous activity.
About one in four adolescents aged 11 to 17 worldwide reported no active day in the previous week, the World Health Organization has warned, in a finding that puts the scale of teenage inactivity in stark terms. An active day was defined as a day with at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, such as brisk walking, cycling, playing sport or other movement that raises the heart rate.
The estimates, published in The Lancet Global Health, draw on 389 population-based surveys from 140 countries and territories covering more than 3.2 million teenagers. Extrapolated to the global population, the WHO says the findings amount to around 240 million young people with no active day in a week.
The Philippines stands out in the new data as one of the least active countries. Around 40 per cent of Filipino adolescents reported no active day, a figure matched by Namibia and Nepal, and well above the global average of about 25 per cent. Reports in Manila on 5 November highlighted the finding, noting that about two in five Filipino teenagers reported less than an hour of moderate-to-vigorous activity.
The Philippine trend has barely moved in 15 years. The WHO series puts the share of adolescents with no active day at 40.85 per cent in 2010 and 40.32 per cent in 2025, a marginal change that suggests that, despite years of health campaigns, daily activity has not become a normal part of teenage life for a large minority.
Girls are being left furthest behind. In the Philippines in 2025, 42.7 per cent of girls reported no active day, compared with 38 per cent of boys, a gap that mirrors a wider global pattern in which adolescent girls are consistently less active than boys. The WHO has repeatedly flagged that gap as a priority for schools, sports programmes and urban planning.
Across the world, teenagers reported being active on an average of only 2.7 days a week, and just 14 per cent reported being active on all seven days. At the other end of the scale, more than 30 per cent of young people in Bangladesh and Serbia were active every day, showing that high daily activity is achievable even in very different settings.
The health stakes are serious. The WHO warns that physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers, and that habits formed in adolescence often carry into adult life. A teenager who rarely moves is more likely to become an adult who rarely moves, with consequences that build over decades.
It is important to be precise about what the headline figure does and does not mean. Zero active days does not mean zero movement at all: a young person who walks for 30 minutes, plays briefly or does light activity would still fall short of the 60-minute threshold. The measure is a benchmark for health, not a claim that a quarter of teenagers never move.
Researchers and health officials point to a mix of causes, including screen time and sedentary leisure, long school days, a lack of safe spaces to play, transport that discourages walking and cycling, and sports systems that favour the most talented children over mass participation. None of those factors has a single quick fix, which is why the WHO frames the problem as a systems challenge rather than a failure of individual willpower.
The report's message for policymakers is that small, everyday changes matter more than grand gestures: safe routes to school, physical education that every child actually joins, public spaces designed for play, and community sport that welcomes beginners. In the Philippines, where the figures have been stuck for 15 years, the data suggest that whatever has been tried so far has not been enough to shift the daily routine of teenagers.
For parents, teachers and young people themselves, the study offers a simple yardstick: an hour a day of activity that gets the heart pumping, whether that is a sport, a brisk walk, a cycle ride or active play. The WHO's warning is not that teenagers must become athletes, but that a quarter of them are not reaching even that basic daily level in a whole week.
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