The latest study from Finland’s National Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) on the leisure-time physical activity of the populace has sobering news. Figures show that almost a quarter of the over-20 year old population, 24.1 percent, does not engage in any kind of leisure-time physical activity.
THL senior researcher Tomi Mäki-Opas says the new figures are worrying, because as a rule this quartile mainly reads, watches TV and sits in their free time. In other words, they are truly not active at all. Yet they are likely aware that health experts recommend at least an hour of exercise every day.
“The findings are shocking because we are used to speaking as though Finland was a nation of active people and these new statistics and results do not confirm this,” he says.
Women move more than men
Fresh THL statistics reveal that women are more active than men throughout the country. As many as 26.1 percent of men over 20 admit that they engage in no kind of physical activity, while the corresponding percentage for women is 22.3 percent, a nearly four percent difference. Even when women are travelling for work, they are more active than men, especially those women who are highly educated.
“Women are more health conscious and so they are more physically active and take care of themselves better. This is most apparent in the amount of exercise they do in their free time,” says Mäki-Opas.
The latest results come as no surprise to the THL researcher. He says that the most ardent couch potatoes are young men that are poorly educated. The region with the worst statistics is Central Ostrobothnia, where 30.8 percent of men say they do not exercise at all in their free time. Male residents of Southern Ostrobothnia are just a tad better, at 30.4 percent.
“It goes without saying that men should be concerned about this. They need to wake up and incorporate more varied physical activity into their day,” says Mäki-Opas.
But women in Central Ostrobothnia aren’t much better. Of the over-20 population, 27.1 percent say that they too partake of no exercise in their free time.
Southerners most active
A comparison of all of the provinces in Finland shows that a total of 28.9 percent don’t exercise in Central Ostrobothnia, 28 in Southern Ostrobothnia, 27.5 in the province of Satakunta, 27 in Häme and 25 percent in Lapland. Mäki-Opas says these numbers can partly be explained by the demographics of the regions including age, education levels and employment situations. Another contributing factor is the availability of leisure-time exercise opportunities in the area.
The most enthusiastic exercisers can be found in the regions of Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa, Northern Ostrobothnia, Central Finland and North Savo, where non-exercising figures range from 19.2 to 22.7 percent. Larger cities with the most active levels of leisure-time fitness include Espoo, Oulu and Tampere, with Pori, Hämeenlinna and Kouvola the least active.
The THL figures represent a comprehensive study of people’s physical activity from 2013. Some 95,000 Finnish residents over the age of 20 participated in the research.