Physical leisure activity

Figures stated below refer to „Austrian health interview survey 2006/07“.

Regular exercise helps people to stay healthy. Most people in our society, however, have a largely sedentary lifestyle. The resulting lack of exercise increases the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus (type II), coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, depression and certain types of cancer.

Physical activity is the generic term for any form of physical exercise and includes physical leisure activities, sports (competitive and fitness-based), work-related physical effort and everyday activities. The following looks only at physical activity undertaken during people’s leisure time in a conscious bid to maintain their fitness levels.

Around half the Austrian population aged 15 and over were found to work up a sweat at least once a week as a result of physical exercise during their leisure time (men: 60%, women: 49%). A “physically active” person is taken to mean any person who works up a sweat on at least three days of the week through cycling, running at speed or aerobics. Based on this criterion, around one third of men and just under one quarter of women were active in their leisure time (32% and 23% respectively). There were also clear differences according to age. Among men, the proportion of physically active persons steadily decreased with age, from around 42% among 15- to 29-year-olds to under 27% among 60- to 75-year-olds. The proportion of women who were physically active on at least three days of the week was consistently lower than that of men. One exception was the category of women in middle age: among 45- to 59-year-old women, the proportion who were physically active was the same as that among men, at 28%.

Table(s):

Results (overview): physical activity