inclusivefitness.org Accessible Fitness & Active Living

Statistics

Older Adult Physical Activity Statistics: U.S., Scotland and England

A data-led look at older adults’ physical activity, guideline participation, health differences and trends across the U.S., Scotland and England.

November 12, 2026 9 min read inclusivefitness.org Editorial Team

Contents

Older adult physical activity statistics: U.S. guideline participation by age and demographic group

In 2022, 13.9% of U.S. adults aged 65 and older met both federal aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines during leisure time, using an age-adjusted estimate. The crude, unadjusted total was 14.4%. These are different ways of summarizing the same older-adult population: age adjustment standardizes the estimate, while the crude figure reflects the observed age distribution. The report covers the civilian noninstitutionalized population, so institutionalized people, including nursing-home residents, are excluded. Its measure is leisure-time activity and requires meeting both recommendations, rather than either one alone. Source: CDC/NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

Age group, U.S. adultsMeeting both guidelines in 2022
65–7416.8%
75–8412.3%
85 and older6.2%

The age-specific percentages show lower reported participation in each successively older age band. They are age-specific estimates, unlike the age-adjusted overall figure. This distinction matters when reading the table: it is not a set of percentages adjusted to a common age structure. Source: CDC/NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

For adults aged 65 and older, the age-adjusted estimate was 16.9% for men and 11.5% for women. By race and Hispanic origin, the reported estimates were 15.2% for non-Hispanic White adults, 10.2% for non-Hispanic Black adults, 10.3% for Hispanic adults, and 12.2% for non-Hispanic Asian adults. The report says the difference between non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Asian adults was not statistically significant, so those two estimates should not be presented as evidence of a meaningful difference. Hispanic adults may be of any race. Source: CDC/NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

Education was also associated with varied reported participation across categories. Among adults aged 65 and older, 4.5% of those with less than a high school diploma or GED met both guidelines, and 7.1% of those with a high school diploma or GED did so. The report also gives 25.6% for adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher. These figures describe subgroups; they do not establish why participation differed. Source: CDC/NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

Older adult physical activity statistics: health and disability differences

Self-rated health corresponded with different percentages meeting both leisure-time guidelines in the 2022 U.S. data. Among adults aged 65 and older, the age-adjusted figure was 21.8% for those reporting excellent or very good health, 10.2% for those reporting good health, and 4.5% for those reporting fair or poor health. These categories capture respondents’ assessments of health. The figures are descriptive and do not show that activity caused a particular health rating or that health status alone explains activity patterns. Source: CDC/NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

The report also groups participants by how many of 11 selected chronic conditions they had. The percentage meeting both guidelines was 19.3% among those with 0–1 condition, 16.2% among those with 2, 13.2% among those with 3, and 7.8% among those with 4 or more. The figures describe these condition-count categories; they do not indicate which specific conditions respondents had or explain the differences between groups. Source: CDC/NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

U.S. adults aged 65 and older, 2022Meeting both guidelines
Without disabilities15.9%
With disabilities5.0%
No depression symptoms (PHQ–8)15.6%
Mild depression symptoms (PHQ–8)7.2%
Moderate or severe depression symptoms (PHQ–8)4.7%
No anxiety symptoms (GAD–7)14.8%

The disability estimates compare adults with and without disabilities. The report separately categorizes depression symptoms using PHQ–8 and anxiety symptoms using GAD–7. Among adults with mild anxiety symptoms, 7.6% met both guidelines; the estimate was 5.4% for those with moderate or severe anxiety symptoms. These symptom categories are screening classifications, not diagnoses stated by the figures. All percentages in the table and anxiety sentence are age-adjusted estimates for leisure-time activity. The report presents subgroup patterns, not causal explanations. Source: CDC/NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) findings in the State of the Nation report show that 45% of adults aged 65 and older met moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) recommendations in 2024, compared with 40% in 2014. The overall change does not describe every age band equally. Among adults aged 65–74, reported adherence was 51% in both 2014 and 2024. For adults aged 75 and older, it increased from 26% in 2014 to 37% in 2024. Source: Scottish Government, Older adults – Sport and Physical Activity: State of the Nation

In 2024, reported MVPA guideline adherence among adults aged 65–74 was 48% for women and 53% for men. Among adults aged 75 and older, it was 32% for women and 43% for men. The report also describes change within the oldest age group: for women aged 75 and older, adherence rose from 22% in 2014 to 32% in 2024; for men in that age group, it rose from 32% to 43%. These are survey measures of reported guideline adherence, not direct measures of fitness or clinical outcomes. Source: Scottish Government, Older adults – Sport and Physical Activity: State of the Nation

Low activity and very low activity are separate categories in the report. Among all adults aged 65 and older, 41% reported low activity levels in 2014 and 37% did so in 2024. In the 75-and-older group, the share reporting very low activity declined from 56% in 2014 to 45% in 2024. Within that oldest group, the very-low-activity figure for men moved from 54% to 40%, while the figure for women moved from 56% to 48%. These measures complement the guideline-adherence figures, but the report does not define them as interchangeable categories. Source: Scottish Government, Older adults – Sport and Physical Activity: State of the Nation

Older adult physical activity statistics: Scotland strength training and sedentary time

The share of Scottish adults aged 65 and older meeting muscle-strengthening guidelines rose from 11% in 2014 to 16% in 2024. The age breakdown in 2024 shows a difference between the two reported bands: 20% among adults aged 65–74 and 10% among those aged 75 and older. For the 65–74 group, the report gives a 2014 figure of 13%, rising to 20% in 2024. The overall and age-specific percentages refer to reported adherence to muscle-strengthening recommendations; they do not measure strength gained. Source: Scottish Government, Older adults – Sport and Physical Activity: State of the Nation

The same report tracks average weekday leisure sedentary time in hours. Adults aged 65–74 averaged 6.6 hours in 2014 and 6.9 hours in 2024. Adults aged 75 and older averaged 7.3 hours in 2014 and 7.5 hours in 2024. These are averages for weekday leisure sedentary time, not total daily sitting time. The two age bands and two survey years provide a focused view of this measure; the values should not be extended to weekends or other kinds of sedentary time. Source: Scottish Government, Older adults – Sport and Physical Activity: State of the Nation

Older adult physical activity statistics: Scotland sport and recreational walking

For Scottish adults aged 60 and older, the report draws on Scottish Household Survey (SHS) measures of sport participation and recreational walking. The share reporting sport participation was 30% in 2014, reached 36% in 2019, and stood at 32% in 2023. Recreational walking followed a different reported pattern: 52% took part in 2014, rising to 60% in 2023. These measures use the 60-and-older age group, so they are not the same population bands as the SHeS figures for adults aged 65–74 and 75 and older. Source: Scottish Government, Older adults – Sport and Physical Activity: State of the Nation

A separate set of SHeS results describes guideline adherence in 2022. Among adults aged 75 and older, 37% met MVPA guidelines. For adults aged 65–74, 62% of men and 49% of women met those guidelines; in the 75-and-older band, the figures were 48% for men and 28% for women. These 2022 estimates are distinct from the 2014–2024 trends above and should be read as a separate survey-year snapshot. Source: Scottish Government, The Scottish Health Survey 2022 – volume 1: main report, Chapter 9, Physical Activity

The 2022 report also measures meeting both MVPA and muscle-strengthening recommendations. Among adults aged 75 and older, 7% met both. In the same age group, 63% met neither recommendation. Those combined categories show why a single aerobic activity percentage does not describe adherence to both kinds of guidance. They concern the 75-and-older group in 2022 and are not substitutes for sport participation or recreational walking rates. Source: Scottish Government, The Scottish Health Survey 2022 – volume 1: main report, Chapter 9, Physical Activity

Older adult physical activity statistics: England activity guideline participation

In England’s Health Survey for England (HSE) 2021, 60% of adults aged 65–74 met the aerobic guideline, compared with 38% of adults aged 75 and older. The report defines this measure using the 2011 aerobic guideline and counts activity sessions lasting 10 minutes or more. Those definitions matter when comparing this result with Scottish estimates, which come from different surveys and reporting systems. The HSE also cautions that its 2021 results are not directly comparable with prior survey years because of methodology and response changes. Source: NHS England, Adult physical activity – Health Survey for England, 2021 part 2

For adults aged 65 and older, 17% met the muscle-strengthening guideline in 2021. Only sports or exercise sessions of at least 10 minutes counted toward this measure. The report separately found that 19% met the balance exercise guideline. Among older men, 21% met the balance guideline, compared with 17% of women. The sex-specific figures apply to the balance measure, not the muscle-strengthening measure. Source: NHS England, Adult physical activity – Health Survey for England, 2021 part 2

The HSE reported that 15% of adults aged 65 and older met both muscle-strengthening and balance exercise guidelines. This included 17% of men and 14% of women. As with the individual measures, only sessions lasting 10 minutes or more were included. Taken together, the England figures distinguish aerobic activity from strength, balance and combined strength-and-balance participation; they do not supply one universal measure of activity for every older adult. Source: NHS England, Adult physical activity – Health Survey for England, 2021 part 2

Sources

Written by

inclusivefitness.org Editorial Team

Editorial team

Independent editorial coverage of accessible fitness & active living.

More to Explore

Statistics November 12, 2026

Adult Muscle Strengthening Activity Statistics

Healthy People 2030 reports that 32.9% of U.S. adults met its leisure-time muscle-strengthening measure in 2024. Estimates also vary across age, sex, race and ethnicity, education, income, insurance, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, and marital status.

7 min read Read article