Although young people have started spending more time playing sports, they were less likely to meet the physical activity guidelines in 2022 than in 2019. This is because they cycled less in their free time and to school.
In 2022, young people cycled an average of 51 fewer minutes per week in their free time compared with 2019. This seems to be largely because they used their bicycles less often. Young people also cycled an average of 48 fewer minutes per week to school, but the number of days they cycled to school remained the same. The RIVM cites the use of e-bikes as a possible explanation. With an e-bike, you cover the same distance in less time, which may result in fewer minutes of cycling per week.
Young adults aged 18 to 29 also met the physical activity guidelines less often in 2022 than in 2019. This was partly because they walked less in their free time in 2022: an average of 39 fewer minutes per week compared with 2019.
One of the biggest health problems
“From 2001 onward, there was a slight increase in the number of children and young people who met the physical activity standard; only in recent years has a decline begun,” says Bram van den Berg of the Netherlands Youth Institute. “That is something to be concerned about. Exercise and sports are incredibly important for the health and well-being of children and young people. The WHO has even declared physical inactivity one of the biggest health problems in the world. In this study, the decline in cycling is particularly striking, because besides sports, it is the activity young people engage in most when it comes to physical activity.”