Torontonians of all ages are less active than other Canadians but less chubby than their fellow Ontarians, according to a new report released Tuesday.
The 2010 Active Toronto Report on Physical Activity says that 57 per cent of Torontonians aged 12 and older were inactive during their leisure time in 2007-08.
That percentage is higher than the national average – which sits at 50 per cent – and marks a rise of six percentage points from Torontonians' physical inactivity levels in 2005.
Toronto's immigrant populations have "substantially lower" activity levels, the report said.
Across all social groups, lack of time was the most commonly cited reason for inactivity.
The report also found that Toronto's youth are less active than the national average.
Four out of every 10 Torontonians between 12 and 19 years old were inactive. At 53.5 per cent, girls in that age bracket were even less likely to be active than boys of the same age. Nationally and provincially, about three out of every 10 teens is inactive, the report said.
Although inactivity levels are higher in Toronto, the number of people over 18 who reported they were overweight or obese in 2008 was 44 per cent, lower than the provincial average of 52 per cent and a level that has remained fairly constant over the last five years, according to the report.
The report also found that as inactivity among Torontonians has risen, so has diabetes. In 2007-08, 8 per cent of Toronto's population reported they had diabetes, a rise from the 2003 diabetes rate of 4.9 per cent. The provincial rate of diabetes is 6.2 per cent.
Get Active Toronto, a group that includes members from the private, public and volunteer sector, held a summit Tuesday morning to discuss the report's findings and the effects inactivity can have on health.
"A physically active population is a vital part of a healthy city," Dr. David McKeown, Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, said in a news release. "Get Active Toronto seeks to engage organizations in our community to take action to reduce the physical activity deficit."
The report's findings are not all grim: the report found that from 1999 to 2009, the percentage of Torontonians who bicycle grew to 54 per cent from 48 per cent. The proportion of the city's population who cycled as a means of transportation to work, school or to go shopping grew to 29 from per cent.
The report based its results on a number of data sources, including the Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey and the 2006 national Census.
Also on Tuesday, a national report on physical activity in children was released that said Canadian children are dangerously inactive.
