The global cost of physical inactivity for 2013 has been calculated at $US67.5 billion ($A90 billion), in a world-first study by the University of Sydney.

The findings, published in the journal Lancet, include the cost burden of lifestyle diseases on health budgets as well as the cost of premature death relating to physical inactivity.

The burden in developing countries was calculated differently because the consequences of lifestyle diseases is often premature death.

Sydney University senior research fellow Melody Ding said the cost included the healthcare expenses linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

“These are the diseases associated with physical inactivity,” Dr Ding said.

“It also includes the cost of productivity losses when people die prematurely because of physical inactivity.”

The study included data from 142 countries, taking in 93.2 per cent of the global population.

Australia shared a huge portion of the cost.

In 2013, the total cost burden of physical inactivity on the Australian economy was $805 million, including $640 million in direct costs and $165 million in productivity losses.

Source
Brooke Boney
ABC News Online