The bar chart illustrates the proportion of Canadian boys and girls who attained the specified physical activity criteria by engaging in at least 30 minutes or 60 minutes of exercise on one, three and six days per week.
Overall, the boys have been more actively participating in activities across all categories, and the engagement rate steadily declined as the active days per week increased. Moreover, the percentage of children and adolescents meeting at least half an hour of activity benchmark has been consistently higher than that of at least an hour.
Almost all the boys (97%) and girls (93%) undertook activity for at least 30 minutes on one day per week, while slightly fewer achieved the 60-minute mark (85% and 74%, respectively). However, when the criterion rose to three days per week, the percentage of active children declined to 83% for boys and 74% for girls for the at least 30 minutes target, whereas only 53% and 35% achieved the one-hour mark.
The most striking difference appeared among those active on six or more days weekly. Following that, only about 25% of children met the 30-minute criterion, and the proportion attaining the one-hour target stayed under 10.
In summary, the data revealed a clear gender gap and an inverse relationship between participation rate and frequency of activity. While boys have been more active than girls overall, both groups find it increasingly difficult to consistently engage in physical activities throughout the week.