Indonesia has been named the laziest country to walk in the world based on the results of a research team from Stanford University in the United States.
The world-renowned university conducted a study related to a lazy lifestyle with one factor being people who are too lazy to walk.
The research team from Stanford is also trying to map out how active people are around the world. Lack of physical activity is known to further increase the risk of obesity which is currently a global problem.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends exercising at least 150 minutes per week. Even with that advice, not many people carry out the recommendations from the WHO.
The main benchmark of these activities, according to the study, was the average number of people walking every day. The research, published in the journal Nature, is the world’s largest study; its scale is 1,000 times larger than previous studies on human movement.
The research team used data from smartphones and then ranked countries around the world. The results were based on a global scale study, in which the researchers observed the footsteps of 717,000 people from 111 countries.
From these results, Indonesia has been dubbed to have the laziest citizens in terms of walking. The data shows that Indonesians only take 3,513 steps per day. Meanwhile, Hong Kong residents are the world’s most active in walking with 6,880 steps per day.
The problem with Indonesia being the laziest country to walk is not only laziness. Studies on active behaviour in walking activities are also closely related to obesity levels and the risk of developing deadly diseases.
Many possible factors influence the number of steps a person takes aside from laziness; the roads are not pedestrian-accessible with limited or no sidewalks, public transportation is inadequate, and motorcycle loans are getting cheaper.