UK fitness, activity and body statistics
Around 63% of UK adults meet the recommended 150 minutes of activity a week, while about 64% are overweight or living with obesity and roughly 29% live with obesity, according to the NHS Health Survey for England and Sport England's Active Lives survey. Free-sugars intake is about double the recommended limit. This page collects the headline UK figures on activity, body weight, diet and running, each cited to its primary government or public dataset, so you can check and reuse them. Figures are refreshed when their source updates.
Headline UK figures, 2026
| Measure | Latest UK figure | Primary source |
|---|---|---|
| Adults meeting the 150 min/week activity guidelineActive at the recommended level (64.6%, about 30.9 million adults) | About 65% | Sport England, Active Lives Adult Survey, November 2024-25 |
| Adults inactive (under 30 min/week)Classed as inactive (24.7%) | About 25% | Sport England, Active Lives Adult Survey, November 2024-25 |
| Adults overweight or living with obesityBMI of 25 or above | About 64% | NHS Health Survey for England |
| Adults living with obesityBMI of 30 or above | About 29% | NHS Health Survey for England |
| Children (reception, aged 4 to 5) living with obesityEngland | About 9.6% | NHS National Child Measurement Programme |
| Adult free-sugars intake vs the 5% recommendationRoughly double the guideline | About 9 to 10% of energy | National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) |
| Adults eating 5 portions of fruit and veg a daySelf-reported | About 1 in 3 | NHS Health Survey for England |
| Median UK adult parkrun 5K finish timeVaries by age and sex | About 28 to 32 minutes | parkrun public results |
Each figure is the latest published headline from its primary source, rounded as that source reports it. Percentages and times are not computed by FitCalcs. Refreshed on release.
Where these numbers come from
The activity figures are from Sport England's Active Lives Adult Survey, the official measure of how much England exercises. Body-weight and diet figures are from the NHS Health Survey for England, the National Child Measurement Programme and the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Running benchmarks draw on public parkrun and London Marathon results. We link the dataset behind each tool so the number is one you can verify, not a claim you have to take on trust.
Reuse the data
This page is released under CC BY 4.0: cite FitCalcs and link back. The calculators behind our tools are also available as a machine-readable API and MCP server. For how you personally compare to these averages, see how you compare to the UK.
Calculators and Data Desk, FitCalcs
FitCalcs' editorial desk builds and documents the calculators, citing the underlying equation and the UK dataset behind every number. Health-related tools are editorially reviewed, with figures cited to named UK sources.
Last reviewed: 12 June 2026