Rates of physical activity are largely unchanged since 2001, in some cases worsening and with large disparities between men and women, the report said.
"Unlike other major global health risks, levels of insufficient physical activity are not falling worldwide," Dr. Regina Guthold of the World Health Organization, the study’s lead author, said in a statement. "Over a quarter of all adults are not reaching the recommended levels of physical activity for good health."
Accepted recommendations of movement per week are 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity. Yet among the global population, one in three women (32 percent) and one in four men (23 percent) fail to meet these requirements.
High-income countries had insufficient physical activity two times higher than low-income countries and that rate increased by five percent between 2001 and 2016.
In Kuwait, American Samoa, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, more than half of all adults have insufficient physical activity.