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Guernsey has come 12th, out of 57 countries in a global collection of data showing how active children are on six continents.
Data was collected from countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America, and Australia.
The Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance (AHKGA) assesses levels and trends in child and adolescent physical activity across the world.
Countries are compared to one and another and are ranked according to their own achievements and others.
The 2022 data has now been confirmed and Guernsey was ranked 12th out of the 57 participating countries. The island was ranked jointly with with Estonia, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia and Zimbabwe.
The latest report recognised improvements in physical activity in Guernsey since the last report card was done in 2018. The Health Improvement Commission said that these results show that the collective efforts from the community in promoting and enabling children and young people’s physical activity so far are beginning to pay off, with Guernsey being ranked 12th in the leader board.
Pictured: The indicator for Overall Physical Activity received a C+ grade, an improvement on the 2018 grade of D. The Active Travel indicator increased from a D to and C-, based on data showing that more children and young people are walking, cycling or scooting to and from school.
The 2022 report shows an increase in activity levels while also highlighting the continued need for supporting local children to be more active, according to the team behind the research.
Alun Williams, the Be Active Education Lead and Chairperson of Guernsey's report's working group said this was very welcome news.
“While it is very promising to see this excellent result it is important to note that, in some areas, the grades show that a significant number of our children and young people are not moving enough nor often enough to reap the mental, physical, and social benefits of regular physical activity. Like elsewhere, our children become less active as they get older.
Pictured: Alun Williams and his daughters all embrace active lifestyles.
"We're pleased to have been ranked alongside some countries with a great track-record of activity levels such as New Zealand. Guernsey has many opportunities to be active, and at the Commission we continue to work on making being active more often easier for all age groups.”
Guernsey's 2022 report on activity was called "Moving in the right direction", following 2018's "A Golden Opportunity".
Mr Williams, and colleagues, say this reflects the work that has been done to encourage active lifestyles and also by children and young people themselves to embrace active lifestyles.
The Health Improvement Commission says it is using the 2022 data in their work to support more people to be more active more often.
Activity grades up across the board
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