Physical Activity Facts and Figures

• British Columbians are Canada’s most physically active – 59% of British Columbians over 12 receive enough physical activity (30 minutes a day, most days of the week for adults) to derive health benefits. The national average is 44%. (Source: 2002/03 Canadian Community Health Survey)
• British Columbia spends an estimated half a billion dollars in indirect productivity losses due to premature death and disability attributed to physical activity. (Source: Ministry of Health Services, 2004)
• In Canada, an estimated $2.1 billion in annual health care costs can be directly attributed to physical inactivity ($5.3 billion in direct and indirect costs, 2003). (Source: Katzmarzyk, P., Gledhill, N., & Shephard, D. (2000) The Economic Burden of Physical Activity in Canada. CMAJ 163 (11), 1435-40.)
• Child obesity in Canada has tripled, overweightness has doubled from the period 1981 to 1996. The prevalence of overweight increased from 15% to 35.4% for boys; 15% to 29.2% for girls while the prevalence of obesity increased from 5% to 16.6% for boys and 5% to 14.6% for girls. (Source: Mark S. Tremblay and J. Douglas Willms Secular trends in the body mass index of Canadian children Canadian Medical Association Journal 2000 163: 1429-1433.)
• 2.8 million Canadians aged 20 to 64 are obese (this equals 15% of the population, or one in seven people). (Source: 2000/01 Canadian Community Health Survey)
• The average Canadian child is sedentary for three to five hours a day in front of a television (Source: Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute)
• Four in ten (40%) Canadian children already have at least one risk factor for heart disease due to an inactive lifestyle. (Source: Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 1998, and Fishburne, Graham. (1991). The Well-Being of Children and Youths. ACFWB Newsletter. May.)
• Type II Diabetes, often referred to as an adult-onset disease, is being diagnosed much earlier than before in teenagers and people in their 20s. (Source: American Diabetes Association, 2001)
• Two million Canadian have Type II diabetes, a condition that is preventable through proper exercise and diet. (Source: Canadian Diabetes Association)
• A rapidly aging society and children and youth being predisposed to health risks associated with an inactive lifestyle will increasingly burden our health care system. A total of $4.4 billion in costs have been avoided due to the successful increase in the rate of physical activity over the 10-year-period of 1981 to 1991 (CFLRI). Another study (Katzmarzyk, Gledhill & Shepard, 2000) indicates that the cost of physical inactivity in Canada is $2.1 billion annually in health care costs.
• According to a Stats Canada, children who participate in organized activities outside of school such as sports, music, the arts or clubs tend to have a higher self-esteem, interact better with friends and perform somewhat better in school. Some 16% of youth who had rarely or never participated in sports reported low levels of self-esteem, four times higher than those who had always participated. Of the youth who had never or rarely participated in organized sports between 1994/95 and 1998/99, 23% reported that they smoked, almost three times the proportion of those who always participated (8%). Again, those who stopped participating by 1998/99 were twice as likely to report that they smoked as those who had always participated. Children aged between four and nine years are likely to be better at reading and math if they take part in sport. Teens who rarely take part in organized sports are much less likely to meet friends and are three times as likely to report having problems with friends they do make. Those aged from 12 to 15 have especially low esteem and difficulty with friends if they are inactive. They are also more likely to smoke. (Source: 1998/99 National Longitudinal Survey on Children and Youth)
• Only 26% of adult women, compared to 43% of adult men participate regularly in sport. A similar gender difference exists at younger ages, as 48% of girls compared with 61% of boys aged five to 14 are active in sport. (Source: 1998 General Social Survey data, summarized in the Sport Canada report on Sport Participation in Canada)
• In recent years, the Aboriginal Sport Circle has identified a number of barriers limiting the participation of Aboriginal youth in the sport system. These include racism, access to facilities and programs and the cost of participation. While sport and physical activity are seen as effective means of combating social problems such as alcohol and drug abuse, there are few or limited sport program opportunities in many Aboriginal communities and for urban Aboriginal youth.
• There are also other marginalized groups such as the economically disadvantaged who have much less access to sport participation opportunities due to such cost factors as membership fees, facility access, equipment and travel. United States data indicate that only 49% of children from homes with incomes under $40,000 were active in sport, compared with 73% of children from households with earnings of greater than $80,000. (Source: 1998 General Social Survey)
• Early intervention is key. In a Michigan study of adults born into poverty who participated in a high-quality, active learning preschool program at ages 3 and 4, have half as many criminal arrests, higher earnings and property wealth and greater commitment to marriage. Over participants’ lifetimes, the public is receiving an estimated $7.16 for every dollar originally invested. (Source: High/Scope Perry Preschool Study).