Worldwide, children and young people do not exercise enough, especially the age group of 11 to 17 year-olds. Girls even exercise significantly less than boys. Too much screen time contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle. In the Netherlands, adults (aged 15 and over) are sedentary for an average of more than 8.5 hours per day, often behind a screen. This trend is seen worldwide and translates into reduced social skills and health risks such as obesity and problems sleeping.
In the Netherlands, sports and exercise are an important part of society, but not easily accessible to all. The facts speak for themselves:
- 38.5% of Dutch children aged 4 to 11 fall short of the exercise guidelines.
- 58.5% of Dutch youth aged 12 to 17 do not exercise enough.
- In the United Kingdom (80%), Spain (77%) and the Netherlands Antilles (87%), young people do not meet the exercise guidelines.
- Worldwide, 81% of young people between the ages of 11 and 17 do not exercise enough.
- On average, girls worldwide exercise 7% less than boys.
- 60% of children with an intellectual disability and 70% of children with a physical disability do not engage in sports on a weekly basis.
Sports and exercise are especially important for children with special needs to help them learn deal better with their disability and feel good about themselves. In other countries where we are active, such as South Africa, access to sports is often even more limited. There the emphasis is often on basic needs such as education, healthcare and safety, which in many cases have the highest priority. This limits access to sports and exercise for children and young people in these countries, further fuelling the urgency of our initiatives in those regions.