WHO warns of growing health risks as millions of teens remain physically inactive

A quarter of adolescents worldwide engage in virtually no physical activity, failing to record even one hour of exercise throughout the week, according to new estimates released by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The global study found that one in four young people aged 11 to 17 reported having no physically active days during the previous week. The WHO defines an active day as one involving at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

Published in The Lancet Global Health, the research draws on hundreds of population-based surveys conducted across 140 countries and territories, covering more than 3.2 million adolescents.

Extrapolating the findings, the WHO estimates that approximately 240 million young people worldwide had no physically active days in a given week.

On average, adolescents reported engaging in physical activity on just 2.7 days per week, while only 14 percent said they were active every day.

The WHO warned that physical inactivity significantly increases the risk of serious health conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

"Helping young people develop active habits early in life is critical to protecting their health and reducing the global burden of these diseases," the UN health agency said.

The organisation also expressed concern over the lack of progress, noting that physical activity levels among adolescents have remained virtually unchanged over the past 15 years.

"For 15 years, the world has made almost no progress in getting young people moving, and girls are being left furthest behind," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

The study highlighted a persistent gender gap in adolescent physical activity, with girls considerably less active than boys across almost every region.

According to the estimates, 28 percent of girls reported having no physically active days during the previous week, compared with 22 percent of boys.

Meanwhile, only 11 percent of girls reported being physically active every day, against 17 percent of boys.