New US report card on physical activity for children, youth reveals continued low levels of physical activity

October 8, 2024

The Physical Activity Alliance, the nation’s largest national coalition dedicated to advancing regular participation in physical activity, today released the 2024 United States Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. The overall physical activity grade for children and youth remained low at D-, the same grade it received in 2022, the last time a report was made.

Dr. Natalicio Serrano

Natalicio (Nat) Serrano, PhD, assistant professor of health behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, served on the report’s research advisory committee and authored the “Community and Built Environment” section of the report card. Serrano is also a faculty fellow at the Carolina Population Center and an associate member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The 2024 Executive Summary and Full Report are can be found on the Physical Activity Alliance’s website.

The grade was derived from National Survey of Children’s Health and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data that showed:

• Only 20% to 28% of 6- to 17-year-olds meet the 60 minutes of daily physical activity recommended by the U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.
• The proportion of children who meet the physical activity guidelines has decreased slightly since 2016, when these data were first available.
• In North Carolina, only 17% of children and youth are physically active 7 days a week, while about 42% are using screens more than 2 hours per day.

The Report Card synthesizes the best available data from multiple nationally representative surveys to provide a comprehensive evaluation of physical activity among children and youth. It covers 11 indicators, individual state data and recommendations for how grades can be improved. A letter grade is assigned to each indicator based on the evidence. Each grade reflects how well the United States is succeeding at providing children and youth opportunities and/or support for physical activity.

Findings from the 2024 Report Card, the fifth iteration in the series that started in 2014, highlight the need for programs and policies to combat the rise in societal factors that interfere with children’s physical activity and healthy development.

“Being physically active not only reduces chronic disease burden across the lifespan but also has immediate benefits, such as improved academic performance and mental health,” Serrano said. “As a society it is important to foster environments and systems that promote physical activity – we need to make it more accessible, safe and enjoyable for kids of all ages to be physically active.”

This is the cover of the 2024 United States Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.

The report card is an advocacy tool that provides accountability and a call to action for decision-makers regarding how parents, teachers, health professionals, community leaders and policymakers can implement new initiatives, programs and policies to improve the physical activity levels and health of children and youth.

“Though there is room for improvement, there is also huge potential in multifaceted approaches that create supportive infrastructure, improve transportation systems, and improve access to recreational opportunities,” Serrano added.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of 2021 more than 40% of school-aged children and adolescents had at least one chronic health condition such as asthma or obesity. In 2022, a report published in JAMA Pediatrics found that nearly one in three adolescents now meet the criteria for prediabetes and the rate among 12- to 19-year-olds had more than doubled from 11% to 28% between 1999 and 2018.

The U.S. Report Card Research Advisory Committee responsible for developing this report card is a sub-committee of the National Physical Activity Plan, an initiative of the Physical Activity Alliance.

Support for development of the 2024 U.S. Report Card was provided by Children’s Mercy Kansas City and the Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles & Nutrition.

“Children’s physical activity is highly influenced by factors within our communities,” said Jordan Carlson, PhD, professor of pediatrics at Children’s Mercy Kansas City and chair of the 2024 U.S. Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. “Human bodies were designed to move and be active, but modern society has made life more sedentary. We need to reengineer our environments and routines to build activity back in. This means providing more opportunities for children to be active that are safe and enjoyable. Policymakers and other community leaders can support children’s health by carefully considering the important role all sectors of society play in removing barriers to physical activity.”

Physical Activity Alliance President and Executive Director of NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation Pam Watts, CAE, said, “Improving the health of our young people will require parents, teachers, health professionals, community leaders and policy makers working together to change the systems and settings impacting youth health. As the nation’s largest coalition dedicated to making the active choice the easy choice, PAA is the home for the collaborations and coordinated effort needed to reverse these trends and improve our physical activity grade.”

Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.