Health Reports, October 2026

Released: 2026-10-21

Trends in physical activity among Canadian adults from 2007 to 2024

Public health recommendations, such as the one for adults to accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week, are useful for tracking population-level trends. However, knowing whether Canadians meet this threshold does not tell the whole story. Indeed, it is also important to know the proportion of adults who do not meet the recommendation but are close to reaching it, and the proportion of adults who are much further away from reaching it.

A new article released today in Health Reports, "Trends in physical activity among Canadian adults from 2007 to 2024," provides a more detailed picture of physical activity among Canadian adults using accelerometer-measured data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey. The article examines trends in physical activity and average daily step counts by age group and sex. It also examines the distribution of physical activity among adults who did not meet the recommendation from 2022 to 2024.

Physical activity trends vary by age and sex

While the overall percentage of Canadian adults meeting the physical activity recommendation (46%) was relatively stable over time, trends differed by age and sex. From 2007 to 2024, among 18- to 39-year-olds, the percentage of males meeting the recommendation was stable, at 65% at both points in time, while it declined by 9 percentage points from 52% to 43% among females. The percentage rose slightly over time among 40- to 59-year-olds, while it increased by 9 percentage points among both males and females aged 60 to 79 years. The gap between sexes was consistent over time among 18- to 59-year-olds but narrowed among 60- to 79-year-olds.

Beyond meeting the physical activity recommendation

The health benefits of physical activity extend across the activity continuum, meaning that even amounts below the recommended level can provide benefits. Looking at the distribution of activity among adults who do not meet the recommendation therefore provides additional information about how far or how close various groups within the population are to meeting the target. For example, from 2022 to 2024, 43% of 18-to-39-year-old females were meeting the recommendation, while 34% only needed an extra 5 to 10 minutes per day to meet the target and 23% needed more than that to reach the target. Among 60-to-79-year-old females, 29% were meeting the recommendation, while 21% only needed an extra 5 to 10 minutes per day and 50% were getting less than 10 minutes a day.

Step counts provide another way to measure physical activity

Daily step counts provide a broader measure of movement throughout the day and are increasingly accessible through smartphones and wearable devices. Although a daily step target is not part of the current adult physical activity recommendation, research suggests that approximately 6,000 to 8,000 steps per day may be associated with health benefits. From 2022 to 2024, about one-third of Canadian adults accumulated at least 7,500 steps per day. Compared with trends in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, trends in step counts showed an age-related decline only among adults aged 60 to 79 years, while differences between sexes were minimal from 2022 to 2024.

Products

The article "Trends in physical activity among Canadian adults from 2007 to 2024," is now available in the October 2026 online issue of Health Reports, Vol. 37, No. 10 (Catalogue number82-003-X).

This issue of Health Reports also contains the article "Decomposing the decline in life expectancy at birth by cause of death during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada."

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).