Revealed: the world's 'laziest' countries (and the UK does better than you might think)

A new study has revealed the world's laziest countries, with Britain, surprisingly, nowhere near the worst offenders.

In one of the biggest surveys of its kind, statistics collected from the smartphone data of over 700,000 people across the world recorded the amount of steps they took each day.

Britain, often referred to as the 'Fat Man of Europe' and predicted to have the highest obesity rates on the continent by 2025, posted an above-average 5,444 steps per day, which equates to a little less than three miles.

That pales in comparison to Hong Kong, which was shown to have the world's most avid walkers, with the average citizen taking 6,880 steps daily. Britain was also beaten by China, Ukraine, Japan and Russia, who comprised the rest of the top five.

However, 5,444 steps per day compares favourably to the 3,513 steps per day taken by people in Indonesia, which was shown to be the world's laziest country. Likewise America, where people take an average of 4,794 paces a day, according to the research undertaken by scientists at Stanford University in California.

In fact, Britain took significantly more than the global average of 4,961 steps, suggesting that prominent figures such as Madonna and Liam Fox have been wrong to accuse Brits of laziness in the past.

Average daily steps

Before we get too excited, we should note that the findings, published in the journal Nature, may not have much bearing on a country's obesity levels.

Earlier this year a study showed that the 10,000-step target to tackle obesity was a myth. As each body had different needs, taking more steps each day could benefit some while having little effect on others.

Activity inequality – the gap between activity levels within a country – is believed to be a more important indicator of a nation's weight.

Tim Althoff, who worked on Stanford's project, told the BBC: "Sweden had one of the smallest gaps between activity rich and activity poor. It also had one of the lowest rates of obesity." America has one of the highest levels of activity inequality, with Britain also near the top.

The study analysed over 68 million days' of steps using a special app called Argus, which participants downloaded on their smartphones.

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