Study Finds Spain Most Active EU Country

While Spain is currently being cooked by the kind of sweltering heat that is good for exercising in, the fact Spain sees so much warm weather all-year-long is no doubt one of the reasons that it is the most active country in the European Union.

Researchers from the Stanford University in America tracked average step counts of people across 46 countries based on data from their smartphones.

The study showed that the average Spaniard walks 5,936steps, putting the country ahead of every other country in the EU. Hong Kong was the most active country on a global scale, with China and Japan coming in second and third. Indonesia came in last.

The Spanish proved to be much more active than the rest of Europe. The rest of the top five was made up of Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Britain. The Greeks came in last for Europe, averaging around 4,400 steps each day.

The reason behind the research was to assess the correlation between activity and obesity and heart disease rates. This is one example where correlation is in fact causation. Hong Kong is one of the most active countries and also the country with some of the lowest heart disease and obesity rates there is. Hong Kong was also the country that saw the smallest gap between the most and least active walkers. The study showed there was also a connection between the size of this gap and obesity rates.

The Stanford professors refer to it as an “activity in equality” and say that it is a good indicator of the general health of the population of a country. Hong Kong scored top in the world with a rating of 22.2, while Spain was able to place in the global top 10 with a rating of 26.1.

Following the data would make the least active countries the USA, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Canada – which also happen to be the countries with the largest carbon footprints in the world per capita.

Given the active nature of Australians however, it looks like step-count data isn’t enough by itself to determine the health of a nation.

For Spain however, the combination of an outdoors lifestyle, Mediterranean diet, and solid balance between work and life have apparently created one of the healthiest countries there is.