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Percentage of people who exercise increasing slowly

Forty-six percent of the population do not exercise and tend to be sedentary, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by the Bureau of Health Promotion.

However, the survey, conducted among 23,665 people aged over 18, showed that the number of people who exercise has increased by 170,000 annually.

The survey also found that people aged between 18 and 64 spent an average of five hours and 23 minutes sitting down each day.

Men sit for five hours and 13 minutes on average, while women sit for five hours and 34 minutes.

The cities and counties which have the biggest active populations are Taipei City (63 percent), Taichung City (61 percent) and Taipei County (56 percent). Those with the smallest active populations are Miaoli County (44 percent), Chiayi County (43 percent) and Taitung County (40 percent).

The most popular forms of exercise are walking and hiking, followed by jogging, mountain climbing, calisthenics, bicycle riding, basketball, swimming, hand swinging and badminton.

Bureau Deputy Director-General Chao Kun-yu (趙坤郁) said the percentage of people who exercise regularly had increased from 49 percent in 2001 to 53 percent last year.

The number of people who hike or climb -- considered medium-level strenuous activities -- has also increased from 11 percent to 16 percent, but Chao expressed concern that the number of people who exercise regularly is yet to show a similar increase.
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