American children aren't the only couch potatoes. Nearly one third of children in the world spend three hours a day or more watching TV or on computers. A study over 70,000 teenagers in 34 nations found most children didn't get enough exercise and it made no difference whether they lived in a rich or a poor country. Growing up in a poor country did not mean that kids get more physical activity.
The study did a survey of 72,845 school children aged 13 to 15 from North and South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The children were surveyed(调查_) between 2003 and 2007. In the study, children who spent at least an hour of exercise outside of gym, at least five days a week were considered to have "enough physical activity" , and children who spent three or more hours a day watching TV, playing computer games, or chatting with friends—except for time in school or time spent doing homework--were regarded as "sedentary".
The scientists found only one quarter of the boys and 15% of the girls were getting enough exercise. A quarter of boys and nearly 30% of girls were. sedentary and didn't get enough exercise. Girls were less active than boys in every country except Zambia. Girls from India were the most active, with 37% of them getting enough exercise, while girls from Egypt were the least active, with just 4% getting enough exercise.