Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/283655
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 MARCH 2014 8 News Overweight and now also amongst Europe's most physically inactive THE Maltese are slobs, but beyond the repeated confirmation that our children are overweight, new EU data now shows the Maltese are the second most European nation that does the least physical activity or sport. This lethal combination of in- activity was confirmed in a new Eurobarometer survey carried out over December 2013 that shows that 75% of Maltese respondents "never exercise or play sport", com- ing second after Bulgaria (78%), and followed by Portugal (64%), Romania (60%) and Italy (60%). Generally speaking, citizens in the northern part of the EU are the most physically active. The pro- portion of the population that ex- ercises or plays sport at least once a week is 70% in Sweden, 68% in Denmark, 66% in Finland, 58% in the Netherlands and 54% in Lux- embourg. The lowest levels of participation are clustered in the southern EU. In contrast, 41% of Europeans exercise or play sport at least once a week, while a significant propor- tion of EU citizens (59%) never or seldom do so. The figures have not changed substantially since 2009, however the proportion that never exercises or plays sport has increased from 39% to 42%. Indeed, the Maltese doing no form of physical activity increased by a staggering 37 points, to 75%; while those who do regular sports decreased by 12 points to just 5% since 2009. Those who never do sports in- clude both men and women (79% and 84% respectively), mostly aged over 40 in the case of men and over 25 in the case of women, and their occupations tend to be in the man- ual labour sector, as housepersons, the unemployed, and the retired. Respondents who identified themselves as 'managers' and 'stu- dents' had inactivity rates less than the 75% average, of 55% and 62% respectively. Lack of time is the most common reason cited for not practising sport across the EU. On a country level, the proportions giving this answer are the highest in Malta (56%), Ro- mania (53%), the Czech Republic (52%), Sweden (50%), Luxembourg (50%) and Cyprus (49%). The low- est proportions are in the Nether- lands (29%), Austria (31%), Finland (32%) and Portugal (33%). EU snapshot of physical inactivity Analysis by individual countries shows that respondents in Estonia (49%), Latvia (49%), the Czech Re- public (46%), and Lithuania (46%) are more likely to do moderate physical activity for more than an hour, whereas this amounts to a quarter of respondents or less in Poland (19%), Ireland (22%), Fin- land (22%), Portugal (23%), Cyprus (24%) and Malta (25%). Malta was also the second-high- est country (30%) whose respond- ents were more likely to spend 2.5 hours or less sitting down, follow- ing Portugal (33%), and followed by Slovenia (28%), Romania (27%) and Hungary (25%). In the following countries, at least one fifth of respondents per- form such a sedentary activity for two hours or more: Latvia (26%), the Czech Republic (20%), and Lithuania (20%). Conversely, respondents who are more likely to do moderate physi- cal activity for less than an hour are in Finland (78%), Ireland (78%), Portugal (77%), Poland (77%), Cy- prus (76%) and Malta (73%). Overall, men in the EU exer- cise, play sport or engage in other physical activity more than wom- en. However, this disparity is par- ticularly marked in the 15-24 age group, with young men tending to exercise or play sport on a regular basis considerably more than young women (74% vs 55%). The amount of regular activity that people do tends to decrease with age, notably 71% of women and 70% of men in the 55+ age groups never or seldom exercise or play sport. As for the levels of engagement in physical activity within a week, 54% of all respondents did not do any vigorous activity (4 percentage less than in 2002) and 44% did not do any moderate physical activity (3 percentage points more than in 2002). Moreover, 13% of EU citizens did not walk for at least 10 minutes at a time on a given day within a week (a 4% drop from 2002). In addition, on a usual day, about two-thirds (69%) of respondents spend be- tween 2.5 and 8.5 hours sitting (5% more than in 2002), while at other extremes, 11% sit for more than 8.5 hours and 17% 2.5 hours or less. Sport or physical activity takes place in a wide range of locations, most commonly in parks and out- doors (40%), at home (36%) or on the journey between home and school, work or shops (25%). A shortage of time is by far the main reason given for not prac- tising sport more regularly (42%). Other factors mentioned are a lack of motivation or interest (20%), having a disability or illness (13%) or that it is too expensive (10%). In 2009, lack of time was also men- tioned (45%) as the main reason that prevented people from doing sport more often. Malta still way behind on EU waste recycling ranking In 2012, 42% of treated municipal waste was recycled or composted in EU MAT THEW VELLA IN the EU28, 492 kg of municipal waste was generated per person in 2012, while 480 kg of municipal waste was treated per person. This municipal waste was treat- ed in different ways: 34% was landfilled, 24% incinerated, 27% recycled and 15% composted. There has been a significant in- crease in the share of municipal waste recycled or composted in the EU, from 18% in 1995 to 42% in 2012. The amount of municipal waste generated varies significantly across member states. Denmark, with 668 kg per person, had the highest amount of waste gener- ated in 2012, followed by Cyprus, Luxembourg and Germany with lower amounts but above 600 kg per person and Malta, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Finland and Greece with values between 500 and 600 kg. The United Kingdom, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belgium, Portugal and Hungary had values between 400 and 500 kg, while values of below 400 kg per person were recorded in Croatia, Roma- nia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lat via and Estonia. The treatment methods dif- fer substantially between mem- ber states. In 2012, recycling and composting of municipal waste together accounted for more than 50% of waste treated in Germany (65% of waste treated), Austria (62%) and Belgium (57%). Recycling and composting was also the major part of waste treat- ment in the Netherlands (50%), Luxembourg (47%), the United Kingdom (46%), Ireland (45%) and France (39%). In Finland, com- posting and recycling, and incin- eration had equal shares (both 34%). Recycling was most common in Germany (47% of waste treated), Slovenia (42%), Ireland (37%), Bel- gium (36%), Estonia (34%), Den- mark and Sweden (both 32%), and composting was most common in Austria (34%), the Netherlands (26%), Belgium (21%), Luxem- bourg (19%), Germany and the United Kingdom (both 18%). The highest shares of municipal waste landfilled were recorded in Romania (99% of waste treated), Malta (87%), Croatia (85%), Lat via (84%) and Greece (82%), and of in- cinerated municipal waste in Den- mark and Sweden (both 52%), the Netherlands (49%), Belgium (42%), Luxembourg (36%), Germany and Austria (both 35%), Finland (34%) and France (33%).