A Stanford University Study ranked Malaysia as the “third laziest” country based on a study of 717,527 people giving them a glimpse into the lives of people in 111 countries across the globe.
In the study, Stanford University researchers concluded that there is an inequality in physical activity, indicating that it is a predictor to obesity prevalence – and since we are a country plagued with obesity problems, you probably have an idea of how low we are ranked in the study.
Focusing on physical inactivity, such as the lack of walking, here is how Stanford University ranked the countries:
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Indonesia: 3,513 steps/day
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Arab Saudi: 3,807 steps/day
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Malaysia: 3,963 steps/day
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Filipina: 4,008 steps/day
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Afrika Selatan: 4,105 steps/day
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Qatar: 4,158 steps/day
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Brazil: 4,289 steps/day
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India: 4,297 steps/day
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Mesir: 4,315 steps/day
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Greece: 4,350 steps/day
The study writes: “In countries with little obesity, people mostly walked a similar amount per day. But big gaps between people who walked a lot and those who walked very little coincided with much higher levels of obesity.”
What about our closest neighbour Singapore? Well, they are listed among countries with the MOST walking steps/day, ranking in 9th, with Hong Kong topping the chart at 6,880 steps/day.
What does this mean to us? Well, according to WHO, the suggested steps you should take in a day should at least be around 5,000. So, go figure as what you should do to increase that step count.
Is our dependency on personal transportation, limiting our step count per day? Whatever it is, if this is a better indicator of obesity prevalence, maybe it’s time we put that spring back into our step.
This post first appeared on WORLD OF BUZZ.