An extra 15 minute daily walk could boost global economy: Study

The worldeconomycouldbeboosted by as much as $100 billion a year if employers successfully encouraged their staff to meet World Health Organization guidelines on exercise, according to an analysis of the economic impact of activity.

Adding anextra15minutes ofdailywalking, or jogging a steady one kilometre each day, would improve productivity and extend life expectancy - leading to more economic growth, thestudyby the health insurance group Vitality and the think tank RAND Europe found.

The economicboostwould come from lower mortality rates - in other words keeping more people alive, working and contributing to theeconomyfor longer, thestudy's authors said, and from employees taking fewer days off sick.

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Hans Pung, RAND Europe's president, said thestudyhighlighted "a significant relationship between inactivity and productivity loss" and should give policymakers and employers "new perspectives on how to enhance the productivity of their populations".

The WHO recommends that all adults should take at least150minutes of moderate exercise, or 75minutes of vigorous exercise, a week. In astudylast year it found that around 40 per cent of adults in the United States, 36 per cent in Britain and 14 per cent in China did too little exercise to stay healthy.

The RAND/Vitalitystudywas based in part on data from about 120,000 people across seven countries. It then modelled and projected the potential economic benefits of increased physical activityglobally and for 23 individual countries.

It found that if all adults aged between 18 and 64walked15moreminutes a day, itcouldincrease world economic output by some $100 billionyears on year.

It also found that physically inactive 40-year-oldscouldincrease their life expectancy, on average, by 3.2 years, by introducing 20minutes of jogging a day.