Car-mad Malta reveals aversion to walking

28 per cent of Maltese have told a Europe-wide survey that they did not walk for more than 10 minutes during a seven-day period.

The Eurobarometer survey held in December 2017 asked respondents on how many days they walked for at least 10 minutes at a time in the last seven days.

Only the Cypriots (32%) and the Portuguese (29%) were less likely to walk at least for 10 minutes during that week. On average 15% of Europeans had walked at least once for more than 10 minutes.

In contrast only 7% of Germans did not have a 10-minute walk in the previous week.

Respondents in Cyprus (32%), Portugal (29%), Malta (28%), Italy (27%) Poland (22%), Romania (21%) and Hungary (20%) were the most likely to say they did not walk for ten minutes or more on any day during the previous week.

The percentage of Maltese who never walked in a particular week increased by 13 points since 2013.

But despite the decrease in walking the percentage of Maltese who never exercise or play sports has decreased by 19 points since 2013.

The Maltese aversion to walking is not limited to the month of December when the survey was held.

23% replied that “in general” they never walk for more than 10 minutes.

When asked how often they exercise or play sport, 56% of the Maltese replied ‘never’. Back in 2013, 75% of Maltese had replied that they never practise any sport.

Only six countries have seen a decrease in the proportion that never exercises or plays sport. The largest decreases are found in Malta (-19pp), Bulgaria (-10pp) and Cyprus (-8pp).

While in the EU overall, the most common setting for physical exercise is a park or outdoors (40%), in two countries (Greece, 42% and Malta, 31%) the most popular setting is on the way between home and school, work or shops.