Australia needs to get moving

With Australia ranking in the bottom half of global physical activity levels, the urgency to get more Australians moving has become even greater. 

A new World Health Organisation study measuring insufficient levels of physical activity in adults around the globe revealed Australia ranked 97 out of 168 countries. Published in The Lancet Global Health journal, the study looked at self-reported activity levels in 1.9 million people aged 18 years and over.

Australia’s ranking was roughly in line with Austria, Maldives, Tunisia and Turkey. Countries that fared better than Australia included Uganda, China, Canada and Mexico.

While the WHO study cited Australia's physical inactivity levels as being at 30.4%, the Heart Foundation recognises figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Health Survey that over 50% of adult Australians are not meeting the national physical activity guidelines. 

To help improve Australia’s statistics and health for the future, the Heart Foundation is focusing on motivating individuals and groups to get walking and be more active.

The Heart Foundation Walking program offers a free service to individuals and groups across the country. Thanks to our Walk Organisers and staff, walking groups are constantly being formed, organised and carried out every day across Australia. We also support solo walkers with our new app, which helps people to track their steps and take part in walking challenges. 

We have recently completed the Prime Minister’s One Million Steps, helping over 20,000 Australians get motivated to start walking and stay walking. Collectively, this campaign totalled more than 10.5 billion steps and will continue to grow with added motivation.

In addition, our new Active Australia Innovation Challenge offers grants to people with interesting and innovative ideas to get people motivated. We’re currently judging these ideas, and can see there’s a strong future being built by people and organisations with a vested interest in getting people moving.  

If you’re interested in working with us to get your patients or community moving, email us or call us on 13 11 12.