Activity levels in New Zealand

Adults

The Annual Update of Key Results 2019/20 found:

• around half of all adults (51.7%) did at least 2.5 hours of activity in the past week, spread out over the week
• men are more likely (55.3%) than women (48.3%) to do at least 2.5 hours of activity in the past week, spread out over the week
• 1 in 8 (12.5%) adults are physically active for less than 30 minutes per week
• Pacific and Asian adults are less likely to be physically active than non-Pacific, non-Asian adults
• adults aged 75 years and over are less likely to be physically active than those under 75 years.

The Sport New Zealand Active NZ Survey 2019 found that 72 percent of adults participated in sports or active recreation per week. (The Active NZ Survey asks specifically about sport, exercise and recreation. It doesn’t ask about non-recreational activity, like active jobs or getting to work.)

Children and young people

Activity levels

The Sport New Zealand Active NZ Survey 2019 found that:

• only 7 percent of children and young people aged 5–17 met the Ministry of Health guidelines of at least one hour of moderate to vigorous activity a day
• most children and young people (94%) participate in weekly physical activity to some degree
• boys are more active than girls, spending 96 minutes more each week being physically active
• young Māori spend more time being active than non-Māori children and young people
• Asian children and young people have lower rates of weekly participation in physical activity and spend less time being active than non-Asian children and young people. 

Active transport

Around 2 in 5 (42.5%) children aged 5–14 years usually use active transport (eg, walking, cycling, skating) to get to and from school (Annual Update of Key Results 2019/20).

Screen time

4 in 5 (79.7%) children aged 5–14 years usually watched screens (including TV) for 2 or more hours per day (Annual Update of Key Results 2019/20).