Sitting statistics vary by definition: surveys may ask about a usual day, the previous week, leisure, work, or sitting and lying together. The figures below cover the EU, Australia and the United States, with measurement periods and study limitations kept explicit.
Key Sitting Statistics
The most broadly useful figures are:
- In 2017, 12% of 28,031 EU28 respondents reported more than 8 hours 30 minutes of sitting on a usual day.
- In 2017, 29% of EU28 respondents reported 5 hours 31 minutes to 8 hours 30 minutes of sitting on a usual day.
- In 2017, 40% of EU28 respondents reported 2 hours 31 minutes to 5 hours 30 minutes of sitting on a usual day.
- In 2017, 16% of EU28 respondents reported sitting 2 hours 30 minutes or less on a usual day.
- In 2017, 32% of respondents in the Netherlands reported more than 8 hours 30 minutes of sitting.
- In 2017, 51% of EU28 respondents aged 15–24 reported more than 5 hours 30 minutes of sitting.
- In 2017, 17% of EU28 managers reported more than 8 hours 30 minutes of sitting.
- In 2011–12, Australian adults reported 39 hours per week in sedentary activity on average.
- In 2011–12, Australian adults reported nearly 13 hours of television viewing per week.
- In 2011–12, Australian workers reported just over 16 hours of sitting at work in the previous week.
- In 2011–12, Australian professionals reported 22.7 hours of sitting at work in the previous week.
- In 2011–12, 64% of Australian clerical and administrative workers sat for at least three-quarters of work time.
- In 2025, U.S. people aged 15 and over spent 5.16 hours per day in leisure and sports activities.
- In 2025, U.S. people aged 15 and over watched television for 2.61 hours per day on average.
- U.S. leisure game and computer use averaged 37 minutes per day in 2025, up from 25 minutes in 2015.
- In a 1989–January 2013 meta-analysis, 10 hours of sitting per day was associated with a 34% higher all-cause mortality risk after physical-activity adjustment.
- In a BMJ analysis of eight prospective cohorts, 10 accelerometer-measured sedentary hours per day corresponded to a 1.48 mortality hazard ratio.
- In a U.S. cohort with 14-year follow-up, women reporting at least 6 hours of leisure sitting per day had relative risk 1.34 versus women reporting under 3 hours.
Contents
- EU sitting duration statistics
- EU sitting data by country, age and occupation
- Australian sitting statistics across work and leisure
- Australian sitting data by occupation and income
- U.S. sedentary leisure and screen-time statistics
- Sitting time and measured health associations
EU Sitting Duration Statistics
The European Commission’s Special Eurobarometer 472 measured self-reported sitting in the EU28 in 2017. Respondents described their usual day, so these are survey categories rather than device-measured totals.
| Usual-day sitting | EU28 respondents, 2017 |
|---|---|
| 2 hours 30 minutes or less | 16% |
| 2 hours 31 minutes to 5 hours 30 minutes | 40% |
| 5 hours 31 minutes to 8 hours 30 minutes | 29% |
| More than 8 hours 30 minutes | 12% |
Source: Special Eurobarometer 472: Sport and physical activity, EU28; N=28,031. The sitting figures are self-reported usual-day estimates.
The distribution shows that the largest reported category was 2 hours 31 minutes to 5 hours 30 minutes, while the smallest was 2 hours 30 minutes or less. These categories should not be treated as a measured average or as a direct estimate of time spent in a particular chair or posture.
EU Sitting Data by Country, Age and Occupation
Country results differed substantially in the same 2017 EU28 survey. The low-sitting category was highest in Romania, while the longest-sitting category was highest in the Netherlands.
| EU28 comparison, 2017 | 2 hours 30 minutes or less | More than 8 hours 30 minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | 31% | — |
| Portugal | 23% | — |
| Cyprus and Poland | 22% each | — |
| Netherlands | — | 32% |
| Denmark | — | 23% |
| Czechia | — | 21% |
| Sweden | — | 20% |
| Greece | — | 19% |
Source: Special Eurobarometer 472: Sport and physical activity. Values are self-reported sitting categories.
Age and work status also showed different patterns:
- The share reporting 2 hours 30 minutes or less was 12% among ages 15–24, 20% among ages 25–39, 19% among ages 40–54 and 14% among people aged 55 and over in 2017.
- More than 5 hours 30 minutes was reported by 51% of 15–24-year-olds, compared with 38%–41% across the older age groups.
- More than 8 hours 30 minutes was reported by 17% of managers, 19% of other white-collar workers and 17% of students, compared with 4% of manual workers.
- The share reporting 2 hours 30 minutes or less was 19% among self-employed respondents and 8% among students; among managers it was 13%, compared with 27% among manual workers.
- The 5 hours 31 minutes to 8 hours 30 minutes category included 43% of students and 18% of manual workers.
The survey also recorded associations with activity habits. More than 8 hours 30 minutes was reported by 20% of people who never walked for more than 10 minutes, versus 10% of those walking 4–7 times weekly; the corresponding figures for people who exercised regularly and people who never exercised were 6% and 13%.
These are cross-sectional self-reported associations, not evidence that one behavior caused the other.
Australian Sitting Statistics Across Work and Leisure
The Australian Health Survey for the 2011–12 financial year used a broader sedentary-behavior definition that included sitting or lying during work and leisure. Among Australian adults aged 18 and over, sedentary activity averaged 39 hours per week.
| Australian adults, 2011–12 | Average time |
|---|---|
| Sedentary activity overall | 39 hours/week |
| Sitting at work | About 10 hours/week |
| Leisure, including transport | About 29 hours/week |
| Sedentary leisure | Just over 4 hours/day |
| Television viewing | Nearly 13 hours/week |
Source: Australian Health Survey: Physical Activity, 2011–12 financial year. These are self-reported previous-week measures, and leisure includes transport where specified.
The leisure mix varied by age. People aged 75 and over watched more than 19 hours of television per week on average, while non-work computer or internet use peaked at almost 9 hours per week among 18–24-year-olds.
Almost 30% of Australian adults reported more than 5 hours of sedentary leisure activity per day, a leisure measure rather than total daily sitting.
Australian workers averaged just over 16 hours sitting at work in the prior week. Work and transport sitting together averaged 22 hours 10 minutes per week, illustrating why work-only and whole-day measures should not be substituted for one another.
Australian Sitting Data by Occupation and Income
Occupation was strongly connected with reported work sitting in the Australian 2011–12 data, although all figures were self-reported. The contrasts below describe time at work during the previous week.
| Australian employed group | Sitting at work |
|---|---|
| Labourers | 3.8 hours/week |
| Sales workers | 9.7 hours/week |
| Machinery operators and drivers | 19.4 hours/week |
| Managers | 22.1 hours/week |
| Clerical and administrative workers | 22.3 hours/week |
| Professionals | 22.7 hours/week |
Source: Australian Health Survey: Physical Activity, 2011–12 financial year.
The share of work time spent sitting also differed. 64% of clerical and administrative workers reported sitting for at least three-quarters of work time, compared with 50% of professionals, while 90% of labourers reported sitting for less than one-quarter of work time.
Household income was associated with different work-and-travel totals. Sedentary work-and-travel time averaged 13.4 hours weekly in the lowest income quintile and 15.2 hours in the second quintile, while the highest income quintile averaged 30 hours 23 minutes weekly.
Across the first four income quintiles, sedentary leisure ranged from 18.9 to 21.2 hours weekly. Combined sedentary work, travel and leisure was about 51 hours weekly in the highest income quintile, versus just over 40 hours in the other quintiles; these are ABS summary categories for employed adults.
U.S. Sedentary Leisure and Screen-Time Statistics
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey reports leisure and sports activities, television and computer use. These are useful sedentary-leisure proxies, not direct measures of total sitting, and the 2025 release notes an October–November data gap caused by a federal shutdown.
In 2025, people aged 15 and over spent 5.16 hours per day in leisure and sports activities. Men averaged 5.58 leisure hours per day, compared with 4.76 hours for women; employed people averaged 4.17 hours, compared with 6.66 hours for people not employed.
Television viewing averaged 2.61 hours per day in 2025. Men averaged 2.81 hours versus 2.42 for women, while viewing ranged from 1.48 hours daily among 15–19-year-olds to 4.43 hours among people aged 75 and over.
| U.S. group, 2025 | Television viewing |
|---|---|
| Full-time workers | 1.92 hours/day |
| Part-time workers | 2.21 hours/day |
| Household with children under 18 | 1.72 hours/day |
| No household children under 18 | 3.05 hours/day |
Source: Table 11A. Time spent in leisure and sports activities, 2025 annual averages, U.S. civilian population aged 15 and over. Television is a sedentary-leisure proxy.
Leisure game and computer use averaged 37 minutes per day in 2025, up from 25 minutes in 2015. The measure includes games and social media and is not a total-sitting estimate; the source is American Time Use Survey News Release – 2025 A01 Results.
Sitting Time and Measured Health Associations
Research on health outcomes generally reports associations rather than proof of causation. The estimates below come from observational cohorts and meta-analyses, with different sitting definitions and measurement methods.
A PLOS meta-analysis of six studies covering studies from 1989 through January 2013 estimated a pooled 1.02 hazard ratio for all-cause mortality per additional daily sitting hour after physical-activity adjustment. The dose-response estimates were 1.00 per hour in the 0–3-hour range, 1.02 in the more-than-3-to-7-hour range and 1.05 above 7 hours; the model estimated a 34% higher risk at 10 sitting hours per day and a 5.9% population-attributable fraction, with substantial heterogeneity.
Without physical-activity adjustment, the same meta-analysis estimated a pooled hazard ratio of 1.04 per additional daily sitting hour. See Daily Sitting Time and All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis; the evidence was observational and largely self-reported.
A U.S. prospective cohort with a 1992 baseline and 14-year follow-up reported relative risk of 1.34 for women sitting at least 6 hours per day versus under 3 hours, and 1.17 for men under the same comparison. Combined high sitting and low activity had relative risks of 1.94 for women and 1.48 for men versus least sitting and most activity; the cohort included 69,776 women and 53,440 men.
Source: Leisure Time Spent Sitting in Relation to Total Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of US Adults.
A BMJ meta-analysis used accelerometry in eight prospective cohorts of 36,383 middle-aged and older adults, with median follow-up of 5.8 years. Mortality hazard ratios across the second, third and fourth sedentary-time quarters were 1.28, 1.71 and 2.63 versus the least-sedentary quarter; 10 sedentary hours per day corresponded to 1.48, and 12 hours to 2.92.
The BMJ analysis found statistically significantly higher mortality risk from 9.5 or more accelerometer-measured sedentary hours per day. These estimates are pooled observational associations, not a clinical cutoff or personal advice; see Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all cause mortality.