Last year, Poles were physically active more often than the average European, according to an analysis by the Polish Economic Institute (PIE). PIE also noted that income had a visible influence on how much physical activity Poles engaged in.
According to Eurostat data compiled by PIE in its latest Tygodnik Gospodarczy (Economic Weekly), in 2025 the share of Poles who were physically active every day was higher than the European Union average, while the share of those who did not exercise at all was lower.
In Poland, 18.2% of adults did not engage in any physical activity unrelated to their work. That is the sixth-lowest share in the EU and 8.2 percentage points below the EU average.
The fewest people who did not engage in physical activity were in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland and Denmark. In Denmark, the share was 2.8%.
“Moreover, the situation in Poland is improving. In 2022, that share in Poland was more than 6 percentage points higher,” said Łukasz Baszczak, an expert at the institute.
The data compiled by PIE show that among Poles ages 16 to 24, only 4.5% did not engage in any physical activity during the week. That is half the share in 2022 and almost 11 percentage points below the average for all young EU citizens.
The share of people who were physically active at least once a week was also higher than the EU average in all age groups of Poles.
Every day, 16.4% of adult Poles engaged in physical activity, compared with 14.5% of all EU citizens. In the share of people who are physically active several times a week but not every day, Poland ranks slightly below the EU average.
The PIE expert also pointed out that among the lowest-earning one-fifth of Poles, the share of people who do not engage in physical activity outside of work is as high as 24.9%, while among the highest-earning one-fifth it is 10.4%. More generally, the lower the income group, the higher the share of people who did not engage in physical activity. The gap between the highest and lowest earners was smaller than the EU average, which was 20 percentage points.
Łukasz Baszczak stressed that staying healthy through regular exercise matters economically because it helps maintain productivity and labor force participation by avoiding illnesses resulting from a lack of movement. “The World Health Organization estimates that a lack of physical activity in the decade 2020-2030 will generate a cost of about $300 billion,” the Tygodnik Gospodarczy states.
As the analysis noted, most Poles believe they are in good physical condition. “However, this seems an overly optimistic estimate, given that many people engage in activity quite rarely,” the PIE expert said.
The Polish Economic Institute is a public economic think tank. It prepares reports, analyses and recommendations on key areas of the economy and social life. (PAP)
