GASTAT: 59.9% of adults in Saudi Arabia get 150 active minutes weekly.
The General Authority for Statistics says 59.9% of adults in Saudi Arabia do at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week. Its 2026 physical activity bulletin, released on 22 October, shows men well ahead of women, at 63.4% against 52.9%.
By age, 18 to 29-year-olds are the most active group at 63.0%, and people aged 80 and over the least active at 13.4%. Among adults who are active, recreational activity is the most common type (64.7%), followed by activity while getting from place to place (52.4%) and activity at work (40.8%). Adults also spend an average of 340 minutes a day sitting or lying down, not counting sleep: 363 minutes for women and 329 for men.
Among children and teenagers aged 5 to 17, only 20.3% are active for 60 minutes or more a day: 27.1% of boys and 13.3% of girls. Outside school time, 33.8% of them spend one to under two hours a day sitting or on non-physical pastimes such as watching TV or using electronic devices.
GASTAT drew on the National Health Survey and the Women and Child Health Survey, and its estimates rest on what people report about themselves, or what caregivers report for children. Its 2025 bulletin, released on 23 October 2025, put the adult figure at 59.1%, with men at 66.5% and women at 43.1%. On those numbers the gap between men and women narrowed from about 23 points to about 10 in a year, though this year's announcement makes no comparison itself, gives no regional breakdown and reports activity types under different headings, so the two years may not be like for like.
For sports, fitness and wellness brands, the bulletin is an official baseline. The clearest gaps are among women, who trail men by about ten points, and girls, fewer than one in seven of whom are active for an hour a day. Sponsors, gyms and sportswear brands that want to widen participation now have national figures to plan against and to measure progress from.
Why it matters
Official data shows clear activity gaps for women and girls in Saudi Arabia. Sports, fitness and wellness brands now have a national baseline to plan campaigns and sponsorships against.
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