Europe

Study Finds Long-Term Decline in Youth Fitness Across Europe

Should governments mandate physical fitness or provide better opportunities to be active?

Published JUL 31

Study Finds Long-Term Decline in Youth Fitness Across Europe

Story

Above: A group of children play soccer in Moerdijk, Netherlands, on Nov. 26, 2025. Image credit: Pierre Crom/Getty Images

The Facts

European adolescents are experiencing a decline in physical strength and flexibility compared with previous generations, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Zaragoza published in the Sports Medicine – Open journal.
BGNES News Agency
EuroNews
The study compiled and analyzed data from 417,362 children and adolescents aged 6 to 16 from 38 previous studies across 20 European countries between 1965 and 2023.
SpringerLink
It found that upper-body strength among European youth had generally declined since the 1970s, while lower-body strength improved until the 1980s but has since decreased. Flexibility, meanwhile, recorded the sharpest decline, with the trend accelerating after 2000.
SpringerLink
Cardiorespiratory endurance, by contrast, showed signs of stabilization between 2015 and 2023, though levels remained below those recorded in previous decades. Body composition, by contrast, declined continuously from 1972 to 2022.
SpringerLink
The WHO recommends adolescents complete at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity daily and three muscle- and bone-strengthening exercises per week. Evidence suggests, however, that more than 75% of European adolescents fail to meet these guidelines.
WHO
Sciencedirect
This comes amid evidence that physical inactivity can negatively impact health outcomes, with the WHO linking a sedentary lifestyle to roughly 6% of coronary heart disease cases, 7% of type 2 diabetes cases and 10% of breast and colon cancer cases.
WHO

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

Decades of data make it undeniable — European children are getting weaker, more obese and less fit. The incentive for governments to act has never been stronger. Given the appalling outcomes associated with physical inactivity, public institutions must invest in stronger policies, better infrastructure and standardized fitness monitoring before this generation pays an irreversible price.

BMJ

SpringerLink

Narrative B

Mandating physical activity solves nothing if people aren't free to choose it themselves. Schools with fitness requirements show no measurable improvement in student health, and students will dodge the mandate anyway. Bodily autonomy matters, which means building accessible gyms and promoting opportunities is far smarter than vainly attempting to force compliance.