Nearly three quarters of people aged 16–29 in the EU said they did physical activity outside work at least once a week in 2025.
Some 73.1% of young people reported exercising weekly or more, compared with 61.6% of the total population aged 16 and over, Eurostat reported on Wednesday.
Differences were largest among those exercising several times a week: 18.3% of 16–29-year-olds said they were active 4–6 times a week, compared with 12.8% of the overall population.
Daily exercise rates were similar across age groups, with 20.9% of young people active at least once a day, compared with 20.2% of the total population.
Only 16.3% of young people said they never did physical activity outside work, compared with 26.0% of the population aged 16 or over.
Men more likely than women to exercise frequently
Among 16–29-year-olds, young men were more likely than young women to be active 4–6 times a week, at 20.6% compared with 16.0%, Eurostat said.
Young women were also more likely to report no physical activity outside work, with 17.8% saying they never exercised, compared with 14.9% of young men.
At country level, the highest shares of young people reporting no physical activity outside work were recorded in Malta (31.0%), Portugal (28.5%) and Bulgaria (28.4%.
The share was below 3% in Greece, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands.
