Hong Kong walks to top of Stanford activity rankings, one step at a time

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Scientists in the US have ranked Hong Kong as the world’s most active region in terms of how much people walk.

The “Activity Inequality” study, carried out by a team at Stanford University, found that on average people in Hong Kong walked 6,880 steps per day.

The Chinese mainland came in second, with people there racking up 6,189 steps in a day.

People in Hong Kong walk on average 6,880 steps per day. /VCG Photo

The study analyzed smartphone data across 68 million days of activity from more than 710,000 people in 111 countries.

"The study is 1,000 times larger than any previous study on human movement,” said bioengineering professor Scott Delp in a statement on the Stanford website.

"There have been wonderful health surveys done, but our new study provides data from more countries, many more subjects, and tracks people's activity on an ongoing basis. This opens the door to new ways of doing science at a much larger scale," he added.

Hong Kong's walkability was a contributing factor to its high ranking in the study. /Althoff et al., Nature

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the team found a direct correlation between high activity and low numbers of overweight people with what they dubbed “activity inequality” being a pointer for problems with obesity.

“Sweden had one of the smallest gaps between activity rich and activity poor,” said doctoral candidate in computer science Tim Althoof. “It also has one of the lowest rates of obesity.”

Researcher Jennifer Hicks said the survey shows that city design has an impact on health and that the most walkable cities tended to have the lowest levels of activity inequality.

In addition to smartphone apps, devices like Fitbit encourage people to monitor how much they walk. /VCG Photo

“Looking at three California cities in close geographic proximiy – San Francisco, San Jose and Fremont – we determined that San Francisco had both the highest walkability score and the lowest level of activity inequality. In cities that are more walkable everyone tends to take more daily steps,” she said.

And Hong Kong’s walkability certainly played in a role in its high ranking in the study.

“Hong Kong is a walkable city that promotes utilitarian walking and the use of public transport rather than cars,” Ester Cerin, an honorary professor at Hong Kong University’s School of Public Health, told CGTN.

A Peking University study estimates that around 28 percent of Chinese youngsters will be overweight by 2030. /VCG Photo

“The prevalence of obesity in Hong Kong is lower than that of Western and many other countries. Life expectancy is also one of the highest in the world. This could be partly attributed to the observed higher amounts of physical activity, such as walking,” she said.

However, the findings of the study regarding how often people walk on the Chinese mainland don’t tally with current obesity statistics.

With the world’s largest population, it’s perhaps inevitable that China is also home to the greatest number of overweight people. According to a new report by Peking University’s School of Public Health, around 28 percent - or 50 million - Chinese children will be obese or overweight by 2030.

The "Activity Inequality" study's top 10 ranking. /Althoff et al., Nature

Doctor Gary Sackrison, a GP at Beijing’s Vista Clinic, tries to explain this anomaly.

“China is experiencing a widening gap between sedentary and active groups with obesity exploding in the more sedentary groups. The Chinese are eating more refined and highly processed foods that are higher in fats and refined sugars and many more Chinese have white collar jobs that often require less physical exertion,” he told CGTN.

“Migration into cities from rural areas will be associated with a change in the types of jobs that people perform. City dwellers are likely to have less active, less physically demanding jobs than people living in rural areas,” he added.

The ubiquitous smartphone was instrumental in this groundbreaking study. /VCG Photo

The study was made possible thanks the increasingly ubiquitous smartphone. The researchers said in a statement that almost 70 percent of adults in developed countries now carry one, with that figure close to 50 percent in developing nations.

“The methodology was so new that the reviewers were dubious at first,” said computer scientist Jure Leskovec.

The study shows that when it comes to stepping out, Asia is the most active place on the planet.

Following in the footsteps of Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland are South Korea, Japan and Singapore while Sweden, the Czech Republic, Norway, Ukraine and the Netherlands round out the top 10.

CGTN anchor Rachael Ruble on fitness in China

Rachael Ruble after completing the 2016 Great Wall Marathon. /Rachael Ruble

"It doesn't surprise me that Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland rank at the top for walking. On a regular day in Beijing I walk far more than I did when I lived in America. Beijing is a really convenient city for walking because it's flat and everything you need is usually only a short walk away. On a regular day I'm easily doing over 10,000 steps without even really trying.

"I've always been really active. In America I regularly ran marathons and went hiking most weekends. I do that in China too and it's good to see in the more than three years that I've been here that more and more people are doing it, too. I belong to a hiking group and often go hiking at the Great Wall or in the mountains outside Beijing and I see a lot of other Chinese people out doing the same. I also ran the Great Wall Marathon in 2016 and at least half of the runners were from China. It’s good to see more and more people here getting active.

"Living in a city like Beijing it doesn't make sense to own a car. But living in America I couldn't imagine not owning a car. A few months before I moved to China I sold my car and started walking everywhere. I was lucky to be living in downtown Seattle where I could easily walk to work and the grocery store but for most people I know and most places I’ve lived in America that’s not possible. To go anywhere, to the grocery store, work, dinner, etc. you always just get in your car and drive but in China it’s just easier and faster to walk or ride a bicycle."

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