Physical activity: adults comparison with England

The 2003 Scottish Health Survey and the 2003 Health Survey for England used similar, but not identical, methods to measure adult physical activity levels. To make the data from the two surveys comparable, only activity sessions lasting for at least 30 continuous minutes are considered here. As such, the figures presented here do not correspond with those presented on other data pages in this section, which also include activity sessions lasting less than 30 minutes.

Table 1 shows that a higher percentage of adults in Scotland achieved the recommended level of physical activity compared to England. This is the case for both men and women and across all but one age group (men aged 16 to 24).

Table 1: Percentage of adults aged 16 years and over in Scotland and England achieving the recommended level of physical activity per week by age group and gender, 2003

	16 to 24	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 54	55 to 64	65 to 74	75+	Total
MEN
Scotland	51%	54%	44%	39%	34%	23%	11%	40%
England	53%	44%	41%	38%	32%	17%	8%	37%
WOMEN
Scotland	33%	38%	37%	33%	26%	16%	5%	29%
England	30%	29%	30%	31%	23%	13%	3%	24%

Note: Recommended level of physical activity for adults is 30 minutes or more moderate-plus activity on five or more days per week (above table only includes activity sessions lasting for at least 30 continuous minutes).
Source: Scottish Health Survey.