Britains are leading increasingly sedentary lives and taking less exercise despite rising concern about obesity, campaigns to boost people's fitness and billions of pounds spent building sports centres, a survey reveals.
Fewer people are spending time walking, cycling, swimming or playing sport, prompting fears that the growing trend towards physical inactivity is behind the increase in the number of people who are seriously overweight.
Two in five Britons had taken no exercise in the previous four weeks, and many of those who had taken part in at least one physical activity had done nothing more strenuous than going for a walk.
Proof of Britain's increasing reluctance to take part in healthy pursuits, revealed in research by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), will alarm ministers, who have pledged to increase the number of people taking regular exercise. They are under pressure to tackle the twin problems of inactivity and poor diet.
Dr Ian Campbell, president of the National Obesity Forum, said: 'This research is deeply concerning because it highlights yet again how deeply unhealthy the British lifestyle is.It tells us that we are extraordinarily inactive. Much more needs to be done to reverse a trend which has profound implications for the nation's health and economy.'
There is suspicion that the data was deliberately buried in an ONS report quietly released last week. The report highlighted the growing popularity of reading as a leisure pursuit rather than the decline in physical activity, despite the former's negative public health implications.
The ONS interviewed 14,800 people in England, Scotland and Wales about their sport and leisure activities as part of its General Household Survey of social trends. It found that the number of people taking part in sport, games and physical activities such as walking fell between 1996 and 2002, despite increased awareness of healthy living and the benefits of keeping fit.
Just 59 per cent had done at least one physical activity in the previous four weeks, down from 61 per cent, and the number of those doing something other than walking fell from 46 per cent to 43 per cent.
ONS data-collectors found that walking, cycling and swimming are in decline. Only 35 per cent of adults had walked at least two miles once in the preceding four weeks, and the proportion of people who had cycled at least once in that period was down from 11 per cent to just 9 per cent. Researchers discovered that the number of men doing at least one activity had fallen from 71 per cent to 65 per cent, and women from 58 per cent to 53 per cent.
Government spokesmen claimed the shifts were insignificant, but health campaigners said the downward trend was worrying.
Felicity Porritt, the director of Move4Health, the pro-activity lobby group, said: 'The downward trend is alarming in public health terms because if you are inactive, you have a much higher risk of contracting about 20 diseases and conditions including heart disease and diabetes. The ONS survey shows that this is a worsening problem.
Porritt added: 'We have seen a gradual slide towards physical inactivity which, if continued unchecked, will mean that we have a seriously unhealthy population. While these findings are of concern they are also not surprising because over the past 20 or 30 years we have created an environment which encourages sedentary behaviour, such as escalators in buildings and streets which people feel are unsafe.'
Richard Caborn, the Sports Minister, said: 'This survey shows little real movement in the numbers taking part in sport and physical activity over the past 15 years, and that's exactly why the government is spending so much money on encouraging people, young and old, to become active and stay active.
'We've always known things wouldn't be transformed overnight. Changing cultures is not easy; it takes time. It's a long-term goal.'
The Department of Health said 'inactive living' was as important a cause of chronic disease as smoking and poor diet. 'We are moving less than our parents and grandparents,' said a spokeswoman. 'Activity levels in England are low. About two-thirds of men and three-quarters of women report less than 30 minutes moderate intensity activity a day on at least five days a week.' Despite those low figures, Ministers want 70 per cent of the population to be doing at least five 30-minute sessions of physical activity a week by 2020.
The ONS report, 'Sports and Leisure: results from the 2002 General Household Survey', also revealed that 16 per cent had done no physical activity in the previous year.
One government adviser on physical activity said the ONS figures were 'very worrying. The country is becoming more sedentary and that won't be solved by slinging more money at sport.
'We need to encourage people to walk rather than drive to the supermarket; that's more likely to reverse this trend than people playing football'.
John Reid, the Health Secretary, is due to publish a White Paper on public health this autumn which will contain measures to try and halt the slide into inactivity. But critics fear it will not be radical enough because ministers fear being accused of interfering unduly in citizens' lives.
