RIYADH — The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) revealed that 29.7 percent of the resident population in Saudi Arabia practiced a physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week in 2021, compared to 20 percent in 2019.

The outcome of GASTAT’s sports statistics showed that 48.2 percent of the resident population practice physical activity for at least 30 minutes per week, an increase of 3.2 points compared to 2019 when it stood at 45 percent.

There is a substantial variation between men and women as 54.8 percent males engage in physical activity, while the share of females who engage in physical activity accounts for only 38.3 percent.

This increase indicates an improvement in the society’s awareness towards practice of sport and physical activity.

The indicator of physical activity for at least 30 minutes per week is one of the Quality of Life Program indicators.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity;at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity, or an equivalent combination of both throughout the week.

For additional health benefits, adults may increase moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity to more than 300 minutes, or an equivalent.

The results of GASTAT's sports statistics showed that the percentage of the population practicing physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week in the Kingdom reached 29.7 percent, an increase of 9.7 percentage points compared to 2019.

Among them, males who engage in physical activity accounted for 36.1 percent , while females who engage in physical activity accounted for 20.3 percent.

The percentage of physical activity for at least 30 minutes per week among adults varies across the regions of the Kingdom, from 41.6 percent in Hail to 51.2 percent in the Eastern Province.

The percentage of physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week varies across the Kingdom regions, from 24.3 percent in Al-Jouf to 32.9 percent in the Eastern Province.

The lowest difference between males and females who engage in physical activity for at least 30 minutes per week is in the Hail region (12.6%) and the highest in the Tabuk region (20.1%).

The lowest difference between males and females who engage in physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week is in the Qassim region (13.1%), and the highest in the Northern Borders region (18.9%).