Young people more likely to be physically active

In 2025, 73.1% of young people aged 16–29 in the EU took part in a physical activity outside work at least once a week, compared with 61.6% of the total population aged 16 years or over.   

The biggest differences were among those who exercise several times a week. In this group, 18.3% of young people were active 4–6 times a week, compared with 12.8% of the total population. By contrast, the share exercising at least once a day was almost the same across age groups, at 20.9% for young people and 20.2% for the total population.

Only 16.3% of young people reported that they never did physical activity outside work, compared with 26.0% for the total population.

Source dataset: ilc_hch07b

At EU level, young men were more likely than young women to exercise frequently with 20.6% being physical active 4–6 times a week, compared with 16.0% of young women. Meanwhile, 17.8% of women aged 16–29 reported no physical activity outside work, compared with 14.9% of men of the same age. 

At country level, the highest shares of young people reporting no physical activity outside work were in Malta (31.0%), Portugal (28.5%) and Bulgaria (28.4%), while the shares were below 3% in Greece, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands. 

Source dataset: ilc_hch07b