60+ Walking statistics 2021 [Research Review]

Whether you're walking for leisure or health, the benefits of walking are vast. We've gathered some of the most interesting statistics on walking from over 25 sources that cover race walking, fun facts, and more.

Walking statistics per region

Based on data collected from walking or activity apps, here are the average daily steps taken in:

Hong Kong - 6,880
China - 6,189
United Kingdom - 5,444
Germany - 5,205
France - 5,141
Australia - 4,491
Canada - 4,819
U.S. - 4,774
India - 4,297
Indonesia - 3,513

Walking statistics demographics

Walking by age and gender

Based on gender and age, the average daily steps taken by:

Healthy older adults (aged 50 and above): 6,000 to 8,500 steps
- Older adults with health problems: 1,200 to 2,200 steps
Adults (aged 18 and above): 5,117 steps
- Adult males: 5,340 steps
- Adult female: 4,192 steps
Adolescents (12 to 19 years old): 8,000 to 9,000 steps
- Adolescent boys: 9,500 steps
- Adolescent girls: 7,900 steps
Children (6 to 11 years old): 10,000 to 16,000 steps
- Male children: 12,000 to 16,000 steps
- Female children: 10,000 to 13,000 steps

Walking vs. transportation

Based on data gathered from different countries in Europe, it was found that age is a factor in the likelihood of walking than taking other forms of transportations:

75 years old - 34% more likely to walk
0 to 11 years old - 29%
60 to 74 years old - 25%
18 to 24 years old - 20%
25 to 29 years old - 19%
12 to 17, 30 to 39, and 50 to 59 age groups - 18%
40 to 49 years old -17%

Walking speed and distance

The average walking speed of young adults (20 to 29 years old) is 1.34 to 1.36 meters per second
Meanwhile, the average walking speed of older adults (80 to 89 years old) is significantly slower at .94 to .97 meters per second
In terms of distance, middle-aged people (40 to 49 years old) travel the furthest at 3.11 to 3.2 miles per hour
Older adults traveled an average of 2.10 to 2.17 miles per hour

Race walking statistics and world records

The fastest walker in the world is Olympian Tom Bosworth who finished a 1-mile race walk in 5:31.08
Sada Eidikytė-Bukšnienė holds the fastest walker in the women's 1-mile race walk at 6:16.72
Yohann Diniz holds the record for the men's 50-km race walk at 3:32:33 and for the 50,000 meters track walk at 3:35:27
Liang Rui holds the record for the women's 50-km race walk at 4:04:36
George Meegan holds the record for the longest walk at 19,019 miles (30,608 km) which he completed in 2,425 days
It took Jean Béliveau 11 years to walk around the world, traveling to 64 countries and covering 75,000 km

Walking fun facts

To walk around the world once, you need to keep a pace of 3 mph, walking non-stop for 347 days
In a lifetime, an average person will travel 110,000 miles or about 5 trips around the world walking on the equator
If you walk 7,500 steps per day, by the time you are 80, you would have taken about 216,262,500 steps
The average human learns to walk at the age of 12 months
Taking a 15-minute walk will keep chocolate cravings at bay
1 mile is roughly equal to 2,000 steps
You are considered sedentary if you take less than 5,000 steps per day
To keep a walking pace of 3.5 mph walk to the beat of the song 'Shut up and dance'
- You can increase your walking pace to 5 mph by keeping up with the beat of 'Shake it off'
Walking the full 18-hole golf course logs 12,000 steps
An athletic shoe will last about 500 miles of walking
By replacing at least 10 km of driving with walking per week, greenhouse emissions can be reduced by 86 kg per year
Some professions that walk a lot per day include:

- Servers - 23,000 steps per day
- Nurses - 16,000 steps per day
- Retail workers - 15,000 steps per day

Walking: Great for your health and wallet

Based on numerous studies on the health benefits of walking, walking a few times a week can greatly improve physical fitness and mental well-being. Regularly walking has also been associated with long-term positive effects such as reduced risks of developing serious health problems like diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases.

Walking for 30 minutes a day, at least 5 times a week can:
- Reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases by 11%
- Lower cholesterol levels by 7%
- Reduce the risk of developing diabetes by 5.5%
- Reduce the feeling of dejection and depression by 31.1%
- Increased creative thinking by 81%
Walking 6,000 steps a day can improve a person's health, but if you want to lose weight, you need to crank it up to 10,000 steps per day
Walking for half an hour at least 3 times a week can reduce yearly healthcare costs by $330
Taking 10,000 steps a day can burn 421.5 calories or more
- Walking uphill burns 60% more calories than walking on flat surfaces
- Traversing rough or uneven terrain burns 50% more energy
- Walking sideways burns 78% more calories than the normal walking stride
- It takes 1 hour and 43 minutes to burn a Big Mac meal (burger, soda, and fries)

Walking behavior

Texting while walking

Texting while walking has caused a lot of accidents on the sidewalks and the streets. According to a study conducted among pedestrians, texting while walking:

Reduced walking gait velocity by 33%
Increased lateral deviation by 61%
Increased linear distance traveled by 13%

Walking with dogs

In a study conducted between dog owners and those who don't, it was discovered that:

Dog owners are 4 times more likely to take daily walks than those who don't have dogs
61% of dog owners walk their pets at least 10 minutes when they go out
27% of dog owners are able to walk their dogs at least 150 minutes
Dog owners are 34% more likely to be able to walk an average of 150 minutes per week
Dog owners are 69% more likely to do leisure-time physical activity than non-dog owners

About RunRepeat

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Here at RunRepeat, you can find walking shoes that are comfortable for all-day wear, as well as fitness walking shoes if you're into brisk walking or race walking. You can learn more about them in our shoe guides.

Use of content

If the walking statistics piqued your interest and you would want to find out more, you can reach out to Nick Rizzo at nick@runrepeat.com to learn more. He is also available to do interviews.
Data on this analysis is free to use. We only request that you link back to this original source.

References

https://www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/average-walking-speed#average-speed-by-age

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0023299

https://acewebcontent.azureedge.net/assetportfoliodownloads/WalkingFunFacts-2015.pdf

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/average-steps-per-day#steps-by-age

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2010/10000/Pedometer_Measured_Physical_Activity_and_Health.4.aspx

https://www.verywellfit.com/whats-typical-for-average-daily-steps-3435736

https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-8-78

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3169444/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5774986/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22226937/

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/tech-texting-while-walking-causes-accidents-031014#Surgeons,-lawmakers-concerned

https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jpah/8/3/article-p436.xml

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-41254-6#Sec2

https://www.myshortlister.com/insights/walking-statistics

https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/specialist/knowledge/pedestrians/pedestrians_and_cyclists_unprotected_road_users/walking_and_cycling_as_transport_modes_en

https://snowbrains.com/brain-post-how-far-does-the-average-human-walk-in-a-lifetime/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130328075702.htm

https://acewebcontent.azureedge.net/assetportfoliodownloads/WalkingFunFacts-2015.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Meegan

https://matadornetwork.com/bnt/seriously-slow-6-travelers-who-walked-around-the-world/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bosworth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile_walk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sada_Eidikyt%C4%97

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yohann_Diniz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liang_Rui

https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/why-walk-fun-facts-for-motivation

https://www.lowa.co.uk/lovelowa/74-six-environmental-benefits-of-walking

https://www.firstpost.com/living/10-facts-you-never-knew-about-walking-but-should-6335061.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pedestrian_circumnavigators