Physical activity: children European comparison
The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey allows physical activity levels in young people to be compared across countries. A direct comparison is possible, given the standard methodology adopted in each of the participating countries.
Chart 1 shows that Scotland compares reasonably favourably to the other participating European Union (EU) countries in terms of the percentage of 15-year-old boys achieving the recommended level of physical activity. Scotland has a higher percentage than more than half of the other participating EU countries, with 21% achieving recommended levels compared to the HSBC average of 20%.
Chart 2 shows similar data in relation to 15 year-old-girls, where the results are not so favourable, with Scotland having a lower percentage achieving the recommended level of activity than more than half of the other participating EU countries. The Scottish average for girls is 9% compared to the HSBC average of 12%.
Like the Scottish Health Survey, the HBSC survey has found that boys are more likely than girls to achieve the recommended level of physical activity for children. This is the case across all the EU countries participating in the HBSC survey.
The HBSC survey produces lower estimates than the Scottish Health Survey of the percentage of young people achieving the recommended level of physical activity. However, the two surveys have very different methodologies and this may account for the difference in estimates. For details of the survey methodologies see the key data sources page.
Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.