Oh dear! Apparently, Malaysia is the 3rd laziest country in the world ?
According to a new study conducted by Standford University, Malaysians walk an average of 3,943 steps a day. Sounds plenty enough, right? But guess what – Hong Kongers walk an average of 6,880 steps a day!
The study was conducted using step-counters installed in most smartphones to track the walking activity of about 700,000 people in 46 countries around the world. Scott Delp, a professor who co-led the research, said that “the study is 1,000 times larger than any previous study on human movement.”
Standford researchers also noted that people typically walked a similar amount every day in countries with less obesity. However, there were larger gaps between those who walked a lot and those who walked very little in nations with higher rates of obesity.
“If you think about some people in a country as ‘activity rich’ and others as ‘activity poor’, the size of the gap between them is a strong indicator of obesity levels in that society,” Delp explained.
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In our opinion, Kuala Lumpur is not as walkable as cities like Seoul, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. So the result is pretty unfair, don’t you think?
In other news, it was also reported that Malaysia has the highest obesity rate in Southeast Asia, according to Economist Intelligence Unit’s “Tackling Obesity in Asean” report.
What are your thoughts on the study? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below!
Sources: USA Today, Sin Chew, College Candy / Featured image: NST.
