Physical Inactivity Worldwide Gender breakdown page

[kenn]

Daily chart: A map of sloth | The Economist

[Lewis]

So the more industrialized (or post-industrial) people are, the less active they are. No surprise there.

Furthermore, women in all types of societies tend, on the whole, to be somewhat more active than men. Again, one could probably have guessed that.

But there are a few exceptions when it comes to sex (or "gender" as the Economist calls it). By the looks Brazilian women are less active than Brazilian men. Maybe with that nice climate they're all lying on the beach. :-)

[sakura_girl]

Furthermore, women in all types of societies tend, on the whole, to be somewhat more active than men. Again, one could probably have guessed that.

But there are a few exceptions when it comes to sex (or "gender" as the Economist calls it). By the looks Brazilian women are less active than Brazilian men. Maybe with that nice climate they're all lying on the beach. :-)

Wait, what? Looks to me like they're pretty much more sedentary in all countries except a select few like Russia and the Philippines.

lol@Japan

[Lewis]

Wait, what? Looks to me like they're pretty much more sedentary in all countries except a select few like Russia and the Philippines.

lol@Japan

Oh, OK.

The abstract says:

Inactivity rises with age, is higher in women than in men, and is increased in high-income countries.

Global physical activity levels: surveillance progress, pitfalls, and prospects : The Lancet

So you'd be right.

It looked the other way round to me. We've got that big "less than 19% inactive" patch right across Russia and points East. And Canadian, Mexican, and Australian women all seem to be more active than their male compatriots (30 - 39.9% as opposed to 40 - 49.9%). Evidently, not true overall.


I notice that the Economist says rather hopefully, "Surprisingly, America does not live up to its sluggish reputation," whereas the Abstract to the paper notes, "Worldwide, 31·1% ... of adults are physically inactive, with proportions ranging from 17·0% ... in southeast Asia to about 43% in the Americas ..."

[sakura_girl]

It looked the other way round to me. We've got that big "less than 19% inactive" patch right across Russia and points East. And Canadian, Mexican, and Australian women all seem to be more active than their male compatriots (30 - 39.9% as opposed to 40 - 49.9%). Evidently, not true overall.

Canada, Australia, and Mexico look the same color to me for both sexes. Perhaps it is the lighting where the US and the Philippeans screw up the color so it looks darker?

[Lewis]

Perhaps it depends on the color-balance of one's monitor.

For me Canada and Mexico look much pinker on the chart for women than the U.S. does, whereas the color for the whole of North America appears uniformly red on the male chart.

The precise color I see is a bit affected by the angle of the screen and how high or low on the screen comes. You know what flatscreens are like (although the Lancet obviously doesn't and is still living in the age of paper or it wouldn't have chosen those colors!).

I defintely see a difference in shade between Canada/Mexico and the U.S. on the lower map, though.

[sakura_girl]

Yeah, but they are not quite as red as the other 40%'s on the map. Small issue, but just sayin' >_<

But yeah, I would also question where the data comes from and how biased it is. For example, now that I think of it, Japan would make sense as a >50% if the majority of the population is really old, and if old people don't get as much exercise. So was the sample size an accurate depiction of the population as a whole?

I was also surprised to see so much of Africa sedentary. Does anybody know why the data came out like that?

[Lewis]

... I would also question where the data comes from and how biased it is.

That's the big question, of course.

I'm not giving the Lancet my details just to look at the full paper, though.

[sakura_girl]

I'm not giving the Lancet my details just to look at the full paper, though.

Amen to that.

[Figlio di Moros]

Indonesia, Russia, and Finland are the only countries where women are less inactive than men. There's a handful where men and women range similarly, but overall, Lewis, most countries show less female activity. I'm not sure how you can try to gauge the red/pink, wince it covers range and red and pink are noticably different.