Infants (less than 1 year) should be physically active several times every day in a variety of ways, including at least 30 minutes of ‘tummy time’ (time on their stomach) in infants not yet mobile.
Toddlers (aged 1-2 years) and pre-schoolers (aged 3-4 years) should spend at least 180 minutes per day in a variety of physical activities, with this including 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity for pre-schoolers.
Children and young people aged 5 – 18 years should engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for at least 60 minutes every day. The guidelines state that, "Moderate and vigorous activity can be differentiated by the ‘talk test’: being able to talk but not sing indicates moderate intensity activity, while having difficulty talking without pausing is a sign of vigorous activity.” (UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines, p.14). Children and young people should aim to minimise time spent being sedentary.
The Scottish Health Survey is the key data source providing estimates of the proportion of children meeting the physical activity guideline.
Children's physical activity levels by age and sex
In 2021, 71% of children aged 5-15 years met the guideline of at least 60 minutes of physical activity on every day of the week including activity at school.
Chart 1 shows that children aged 5-7 are most likely to meet the guideline. The recommendation for 2 – 4 year olds is different to that for older children: 2 – 4 year olds should spend at least 180 minutes per day in physical activities, with this including 60 minutes of MVPA for 3 – 4 year olds. Since the Scottish Health Survey does not collect complete information on activity that is not moderate or vigorous, the data for 2 – 4 year olds in chart 1 is based only on those who meet the 60 minutes MVPA recommendation. Children and young people aged 5 – 18 should engage in MVPA for at least 60 minutes every day.
Children's physical activity levels by SIMD quintile
Chart 2 shows that in 2021 there was no clear patterning between area deprivation (as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) and the percentage of girls or boys meeting the physical activity guideline in Scotland. This is different to the results for adults, which do show a patterning by deprivation.
Children's physical activity levels over time
The way questions in the Scottish Health Survey were asked about children’s physical activity were different in 2017 and 2018, compared to previous years. Changes in methodology due to the COVID-19 pandemic mean that 2020 results are not comparable with other years, and differences in data collection in 2017 and 2018 mean that these years are also not comparable.
There was no significant difference in the proportion of children meeting the physical activity guidelines when school-based activities are included between 2021 and 2019 for either boys (76% in 2021, compared with 72% in 2019) or girls (67% in 2021, compared with 69% in 2019).
Children’s physical activity levels: international comparison
The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey allows physical activity levels in young people to be compared across countries (mostly European). A direct comparison is possible, given the standard methodology adopted in each of the participating countries.
Chart 3 shows that in 2017/18 Scotland compared poorly to most other participating countries in terms of the percentage of 15-year-old boys achieving the recommended level of physical activity: 16% achieved recommended levels compared to the HBSC average of 19%. Of the 45 countries included, Scotland ranked 33rd for 11-year-old boys, 27th for 13-year-old boys and 31st for 15-year-old boys.
Only 11% of 15-year-old girls in Scotland met the recommendations, which was the same as the HBSC average(Chart 3). Scotland’s rankings for girls’ physical activity levels were higher than those of boys: about midway for 11-year-olds (24th)and 15-year-olds (26th). As with boys, Scotland’s ranking was highest for 13-year-old girls (17th).
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, although there is not always a statistically significant difference between the sexes. This is the case across nearly all the 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 surveys use different methods and this is likely to account for this 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.
