We are often told most of us do not get enough exercise. A study of Hongkongers aged from seven to 79 coordinated by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department is the latest instance. It also highlights a health issue that has prompted the Fire Services Department to change its recruiting process to help more applicants pass fitness tests. To counter falling recruitment, the department will soon give applicants five more months to prepare for a physical fitness test that up to 40 per cent of them have failed in the past, by putting the exercise at the end of the hiring process. This does not exactly amount to reducing standards just to enable more people to qualify, but it does not reflect well on fitness citywide.

There has been some improvement since the last such survey in 2012 but, clearly, there is room for far more awareness of, and attention to, fitness and preventive healthcare. Singapore identified this as an emerging issue 20 years ago and addressed it with a well-funded health promotion board that raised awareness and organised events. Most Singaporeans now live within 400 metres of a park and have little excuse to be inactive. The two cities may not be comparable, but there is an argument for allocating resources and budgets to make sure people do take their health more seriously.

The government survey indicates that while physical fitness in general has improved over the past decade, more than half of the population still do not get sufficient exercise. Researchers found that many suffer from obesity and 53.8 per cent of adult respondents did not reach the level of physical activity recommended by the World Health Organization – 150 minutes or more o f moderate to vigorous physical activity a week.

Hong Kong gets fitter, but more than half of adults do not get enough exercise

Prospects for future generations look even bleaker. About two-thirds of children polled and about half of adolescents did not exercise enough compared with the WHO’s recommended level for the age groups – an average of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily, according to the survey. It found more than a third of men and more than a fifth of women were obese, based on the WHO’s body mass index. About a third of children and more than a quarter of adolescents were found to be overweight or obese.