About 22 percent of American adults aged 20 and over reported no physical activity during leisure time in 2015, according to County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, with inactivity rates varying sharply by region and correlating strongly with socioeconomic factors including income, education, and public safety.
Survey finds physical inactivity highest in lower-income US counties, researchers say
About 22 percent of American adults aged 20 and over reported no physical activity during leisure time in 2015, according to County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, with inactivity rates varying sharply by region and correlating strongly with socioeconomic factors including income, education, and public safety.
The annual County Health Rankings & Roadmaps report tracks a wide range of local health indicators across US counties. Its 2015 physical inactivity figures reached as high as 40 percent in parts of the South, compared with a national figure of 22 percent.
Among the one-third of counties with the highest household incomes, the share of residents reporting physical inactivity fell to 20.1 percent, according to the report's county-level income analysis, which weighted averages by county population.
Keith Gennuso, the rankings' lead scientist, said unemployment, post-secondary education attainment, and poverty all correlate with physical inactivity rates, and that those same factors are statistically linked to smoking rates and insufficient sleep.
Marjory Givens, the group's deputy director of data and science, said environmental conditions — including local crime rates — also influence leisure-time activity, noting that people are less likely to be active outdoors in areas where they do not feel safe.
- The source does not state the total number of counties included in the dataset or the sample size behind the adult inactivity figures.
- The source does not specify which programs Givens described as having a positive effect on physical activity.
- The source does not state the methodology used to collect the self-reported leisure-time physical activity data or identify the original survey instrument.
- The source does not provide inactivity figures for the lowest- and middle-income county thirds, only for the highest-income third.
- The source does not state whether the 2015 figures represent a change from prior years.