Global: Exercise habits

Health insurers have recently turned towards wearable technology with a view to encourage people to exercise more – with some even offering cash rewards to incentivise customers to stay in good shape. But how much are people exercising already?

Data from YouGov Profiles allows us to look at exercise habits in Britain, Germany, France, the US, Hong Kong, and the UAE. It’s in Britain where the public are mostly likely to say they haven’t worked out at all in the past month (43%), compared to two in five Germans (38%), nearly as many Americans (36%), three in ten French consumers, and a quarter of Hong Kongers (25%). Consumers in the UAE are the least likely to eschew exercise – and by some distance.

That said, most consumers do perform some form of workout over the course of a month. In Britain and the US, for example, three in ten (30%) say they exercise 1-3 times a week, next to a quarter in Germany (24%), a third in France (35%), – and two in five people in Hong Kong (42%) and the UAE (39%). Just 12% of Britons and 13% of Germans (22%) say they exercise 4-7 times a week, with a fifth of Americans (21%), French consumers (18%), and Hong Kongers (19%) claiming to exercise 4-7 times a week. Three in ten people in the UAE (28%) say the same.

Consumers in the Eastern markets in our study (UAE, Hong Kong) do seem to exercise more than consumers in the West.

Methodology

YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.

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