The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) has published the results of the Sports Practice and Physical Exercise Module (Mopradef) 2024, which collects information on physical activity in urban areas of Mexico. According to the revealed data, 41% of people over 18 years old in Mexico exercised in their free time during the past year.
Regarding the gender difference, it is observed that 36.8% of women and 46% of men engaged in some physical-sports practice. Despite an increase in the participation of physically active women, a higher prevalence of physical inactivity among them is still detected: 63.2% of women compared to 54% of men.
The main reasons a portion of the population did not engage in physical activity include lack of time (52.1%), health problems (17.9%), and tiredness from work (15.2%). The study also reveals that 85.1% of people considered the facilities for sports practice to be regular or good, while 12.8% rated them as bad.
Regarding the sufficiency level of sports practice, 64.2% of the physically active population did so sufficiently to obtain health benefits, while 32.1% did so insufficiently and 3.7% did not engage in physical activity during the reference week. Furthermore, it is highlighted that three out of four physically active people have public facilities in their communities to carry out physical activities.
These results are essential for the design and evaluation of public policies that promote physical activity in the country. The Mopradef collects detailed information on the frequency, intensity, duration, and reasons for sports practice, as well as on the availability and perception of public spaces for exercise. In 2024, the percentage of the physically active population in the urban aggregate of 32 cities with 100,000 inhabitants or more increased by 1.3 percentage points compared to the previous year.
