58.7 Percent of U.S. Adults Walked for Leisure in Past Week in 2022

WEDNESDAY, July 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) — In 2022, 58.7 percent of adults walked for leisure in the past seven days and 16.2 percent of adults walked for transportation, according to a July data brief published by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Dzifa Adjaye-Gbewonyo, Ph.D., and Elizabeth M. Briones, Ph.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, used data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey to describe the percentage of adults who walked for leisure and transportation in the past seven days.

The researchers found that 58.7 percent of adults walked for leisure in the past seven days in 2022, with the prevalence higher among Asian non-Hispanic than Black non-Hispanic, other and multiple-race non-Hispanic, and Hispanic adults. There was an increase in walking for leisure seen with increasing family income and education level. Overall, 16.2 percent of adults walked for transportation in 2022, with men more likely to walk for transportation than women (17.3 versus 15.0 percent). The highest transportation walking was seen for adults with family incomes below 100 percent of the federal poverty level (24.1 percent), while the lowest transportation walking was seen for those with family incomes of 200 to 399 percent of the federal poverty level (12.6 percent).

“For many people, walking is considered a relatively easy and accessible physical activity for achieving health benefits,” the authors write. “While wellness advantages do not discriminate between motivations for walking behavior (that is, for enjoyment or transportation), variations by sociodemographic characteristics illustrate that walking may serve specific purposes for different groups.”

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