Health Survey England Additional Analyses, Ethnicity and Health, 2011-2019 Experimental statistics

Physical activity is important for cardiovascular health. The UK analysis of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study found physical inactivity and low physical activity to be the fourth leading risk factor contributing to deaths and the burden of disease globally, ranking ahead of overweight or obesity.¹ The same study estimated that physical inactivity contributed to almost one in ten premature deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) and one in six deaths from any cause.

The UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes per week of MVPA.²

This analysis focuses on participants classified as inactive.

Participants who reported less than 30 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per week are defined as ‘inactive’.

Information on physical activity was collected in the main interview using the Short-Form International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)³ in 5 years: 2013 to 2015, and 2017 to 2018. This questionnaire defines activity levels based on reported (MVPA).

Participants were prompted to report activities lasting at least 10 minutes, reflecting previous global and UK recommendations on physical activity for health that stated that aerobic activity should be performed in episodes of at least 10 minutes in duration. (This minimum duration was removed in the updated UK guidelines introduced in 2019.)

Data based on IPAQ have been published in Health Survey for England 2018 Adult Health Related Behaviours, but not in other annual reports. In 2018, 26% of men and 27% of women were classified as inactive. 

The proportion of adults who were classified as inactive varied between 22% and 41% of men and between 25% and 41% of women.

Once age was taken into account, men from Pakistani backgrounds were more likely to be inactive. Men from all white backgrounds were least likely to be inactive. Among women, no group stood out as having particularly high or low proportions who were inactive.⁴