Physical activity policy snapshots

We’ve analysed policies on physical activity in 30 European countries to see how well the policies are designed.

World Cancer Research Fund International has been analysing physical activity policies in 30 European countries as part of the CO-CREATE project – a EU-funded project involving young people to help reduce overweight and obesity among adolescents.

As part of this work, we have produced a snapshot of the policy landscape in each country, looking at what policies exist, and how well-designed they are.

The country snapshots supplement our new policy index, which examines the strengths and weaknesses of policy design and policy actions in the 30 European countries as a whole.

Read more about each country and download snapshots in English or national languages:

Austria | Belgium | Bulgaria | Croatia | Czech Republic | DenmarkEngland | Estonia | Finland | France | Germany | Greece | Hungary | Ireland | Italy | Latvia | Lithuania | Malta | Netherlands | Northern Ireland | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Romania | Scotland | Slovakia | Slovenia | Spain | Sweden | Wales

> Download all 30 country snapshots as a bundle

MOVING towards better physical activity policies

We call this the MOVING policy index because it is structured around the 6 policy areas of our MOVING framework and examines the policy design – ie, what a good policy looks like – in our MOVING database of physical activity policy.

For physical activity, 3 policy areas are mostly moderate or good:

  • promoting physical activity in schools and the wider community
  • offering physical activity opportunities in the workplace (and training in physical activity promotion across multiple professions)
  • public communication policies which build behaviour change skills

In contrast, national government policies are assessed as poor or fair on the 2 MOVING policy areas that target the active environment, specifically:

  • structures and surroundings which promote physical activity
  • transport  infrastructure and opportunities  that support active societies

Least action is being taken by national governments on:

  • physical activity training, assessment and counselling in healthcare settings, with little or no focus on training for healthcare professionals in this area

Downloads and translations

Visit our CO-CREATE library of resources to download the full profile for each country in the national language and in English, the NOURISHING and MOVING policy briefs, and much more.