REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the implementation of the Council Recommendation on promoting health-enhancing physical activity across sectors
Date: 2019-11-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission
Subjects: European cooperation, World Health Organisation, approximation of policies, health care, physical education, public awareness campaign, sport

1. 

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.11.2019  COM(2019) 565 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the implementation of the Council Recommendation on promoting health-enhancing physical activity across sectors  
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT 

The Council Recommendation on promoting health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) 
across sectors (‘the Council Recommendation’)1, adopted in November 2013, invited the 
Commission to report on its implementation and on its added value every 3 years. A first 
progress report was published in December 2016 covering the period 2014-20162. This is 
the second report, covering the period 2017-2019. 

Sport and physical activity contribute to physical, mental and social health, yet the 2018 
Special  Eurobarometer  on  Sport  and  Physical  Activity3  shows  that  too  many  people  in 
the EU do not reach the minimum levels of physical activity recommended by the World 
Health Organization (WHO). The objective of the Council Recommendation is to tackle 
this problem. Engagement in sport and physical activity varies with age, gender, level of 
education  and  socio-economic  background,  and  between  countries,  suggesting  that 
influence  behaviours.  The  Council 
national  policies 
Recommendation  encourages  the  EU  Member  States  to  develop  national  strategies  and 
action plans to promote physical activity involving all relevant sectors, including but not 
limited to sport and health. It also encourages them to cooperate closely with each other 
and with the Commission by regularly exchanging information and best practices. 

and  guidelines  may 

This  overview  of  the  implementation  of  the  Council  Recommendation  shows  positive 
developments,  including  the  adoption  of  several  new  policies,  improvement  of  cross-
sector cooperation at national level and stronger cross-border cooperation. 

2.  METHOD 

The  Council  Recommendation  includes  in  its  Annex  a  set  of  23  indicators  (‘the 
monitoring framework’) that are used to monitor the progress made in the Member States 
on  policies  to  promote  HEPA  and  to  evaluate  physical  activity  levels.  An  indicator  is 
considered  implemented  when  a  Member  State  has  introduced  a  policy  or  programme 
that is tracked using the indicator. 

The Council Recommendation called on each Member State to appoint a national HEPA 
focal point to coordinate the collection at national level of information for the monitoring 
framework. The focal point network has met five times4 since the first progress report on 
the Council Recommendation, with the support of the Commission and the WHO. These 
meetings have been used as a forum  for extending cross-sectoral  cooperation involving 
other  important  stakeholders  in  the  field.  Physical  activity  promotion  requires  a  multi-

1   Council Recommendation of 26 November 2013 on promoting health-enhancing physical activity 

across sectors, OJ C 354, 4.12.2013, p. 1. 

2   COM(2016) 768 final  
3   Only two in five Europeans (40%) exercise or play sport at least once a week, including 7% who do so 
regularly (at least five times per week). Furthermore, almost half of respondents (46%) never exercise 
or play sport. 

4   These meetings were in April 2017 in Toledo, November 2017 in Zagreb, June 2018 in Budapest, 

October 2018 in Luxembourg and June 2019 in Brussels. 

 
 
                                                           
sectoral  approach.  Coordinated,  concerted  action  by  all  relevant  sectors  avoids 
duplication  and  inconsistencies.  For  example,  the  meeting  in  October  2018  in 
Luxembourg was organised as a joint meeting with the High Level Group on Nutrition 
and Physical  Activity established under the health policy. The meeting in June 2019 in 
Brussels  involved  the  Member  State  representatives  in  the  High  Level  Group  on 
Nutrition and Physical  Activity and in the Committee for the Common Organisation of 
the Agricultural Markets (school fruit, vegetable and milk scheme) established under the 
agriculture policy. 

Since  the  entry  into  force  of  the  Council  Recommendation,  the  Commission  has 
cooperated with  the WHO to  support the Member States and their focal  points through 
the  Erasmus+  programme.  The  data  used  in  the  present  report  were  collected  by  the 
national focal points.  

This progress report also reflects the contributions received from the WHO5 and from the 
Council Working Party on Sport. 

3.  WHO EUROPEAN HEALTH INFORMATION GATEWAY AND HEPA COUNTRY 

FACTSHEETS 

All  data  collected  through  the  monitoring  framework  are  fed  into  the  WHO  European 
Health  Information  Gateway6,  launched  by  the  WHO  in  2016  to  replace  its  European 
database on nutrition, obesity and physical activity. The Gateway is an easy way for all 
53 WHO Member States in the European Region to access health data, information and 
resources, and helps improve the health of Europeans by improving the information that 
underpins policy. This interactive one-stop health information shop allows visualisation 
and analysis of data on over 3,500 indicators. 

The  Commission  worked  closely  with  the  WHO  to  compile  EU  Member  States’ 
contributions  to  country  factsheets  on  physical  activity7,  which  were  published  in 
September  2018.  The  factsheets  summarise  how  physical  inactivity  is  tackled  at  policy 
level.  Thematic  physical  activity  factsheets  focusing  on  health  and  education  have  also 
been  developed,  which  summarise  the  current  status  of  physical  activity  promotion  in 
these two sectors and present a selection of success stories, or examples of good practice, 
from the EU Member States. These successful policy actions can inspire the development 
and scaling-up of new initiatives to promote physical activity in these sectors. 

5   See final report from the grant agreement with the WHO on Promoting Physical Activity in the 
European Union, aiming to contribute to the achievement of the WHO global target of a 10% 
reduction in physical inactivity levels in the EU Member States by 2025, by supporting the 
implementation of the Council Recommendation and of the WHO Physical Activity Strategy for 
Europe 2016-2025: www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/414298/PROMPEAU-Technical-
report-final_2.pdf 

6   https://gateway.euro.who.int/en/themes/obesity-physical-activity-and-nutrition/ 
7   http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/physical-activity/data-and-

statistics/physical-activity-fact-sheets 

2 

 
                                                           
4.  HEPA POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL 

All  28  EU  Member  States  collected  data  on  the  implementation  of  the  23  indicators  at 
national  level.  The  data  collected  present  a  good  overview  of  HEPA  promotion  in  the 
EU.  

Since the first report, there has been a general increase in the number of countries with 
policies  and  strategies  to  promote  physical  activity  in  populations.  Most  countries 
reported data from national systems for monitoring and surveillance of physical activity. 
This is encouraging, as such data allow analysis of trends and identification of effective 
actions and underserved policy areas and populations. The increased number of countries 
with  a  national  coordination  mechanism  and  with  dedicated  funding  for  HEPA  from 
several  sectors  is  also  encouraging.  It  shows  that  more  countries  are  using  a 
comprehensive,  multi-sectoral  approach  to  promote  physical  activity  and  that  the 
importance of physical activity is increasingly recognised. 

An overall improvement in 16 indicators, 11 of which improved by more than 20% (see 
Figure 1) can be seen between 2015 and 2018. Direct comparisons of the data for 2015 
and 2018 require caution, however, since the survey methods were slightly different, the 
new  focal  points  may  have  collected  the  data  differently,  and  more  Member  States 
responded to the survey in 2018 than in 2015 (Greece did not participate in the survey in 
2015). Indicators that were met by only a few countries in 2015 (such as indicators 7 and 
18, both on the use of guidelines), were still underreported. Finland is the only country 
that has fully addressed and implemented all 23 indicators of the monitoring framework 
(see Annex). 

Figure 1 - Number of Member States meeting the 23 indicators 

3 

 
 
An overview of the results of the monitoring framework is presented below. The details 
on the countries can be consulted on the European Health Information Gateway8 and in 
the country factsheets on physical activity. 

National policy recommendations on HEPA have been put in place by 22 countries. In 
nine  of  these,  the  recommendations  were  based  solely  on  the  WHO’s  Global 
recommendations  on  physical  activity  for  health,  while  other  recommendations  were 
used in five countries. Ten countries followed other international recommendations or a 
combination of them. 

Twenty-two  countries  reported  that  they  had  a  national  coordination  mechanism  for 
the  promotion  of  physical  activity.  The  mechanism  ranged  from  small  working  groups 
for coordinating the physical activity component of a national non-communicable disease 
action plan, to high-level ministerial councils. 

Allocation  of  specific  funding  for  the  promotion  of  HEPA  is  a  strong  indicator  of 
action to promote physical activity by governments and government sectors. Twenty-six 
countries  reported  that  they  provided  dedicated  funding  to  promote  HEPA,  with  the 
sports and health sectors providing most of the funding. 

All  countries  reported  at  least  one  national  sports-for-all  policy  or  action  plan  for 
promoting physical activity. Overall, 148 sports-for-all policies or other national HEPA 
policies or action plans were reported. The sports sector was most commonly involved in 
implementing national physical activity policies or action plans. 

Seven  countries  reported  that  the  guidelines  for  ‘sports  clubs  for  health’  were  used. 
Such guidelines encourage sports clubs to invest in health-related sport activities and in 
promoting  health  as  linked  to  sport  activities.  An  additional  10  reported  using  similar 
programmes, guidelines or frameworks for sports clubs or sports federations. 

Twenty-four countries reported that they had programmes to promote physical activity 
among specific groups. Of the 148 reported policies and action plans to promote HEPA, 
72 targeted specific  groups. The  groups most often addressed were those of low socio-
economic status,  elderly people  and people with disabilities. Twenty  countries reported 
specific policies, programmes or cost  incentives to  increase access  to  exercise facilities 
for socially disadvantaged groups, and 13 reported community programmes to promote 
physical activity among elderly people. 

Twenty-one  countries  had  a  national  programme  or  scheme  to  promote  counselling  on 
physical  activity  by  health  professionals  (several  countries  reported  local  or  regional 
schemes,  or  projects  that  were  not  yet  national).  Seven  reported  that  people  who  gave 
counselling on physical  activity or prescribed exercise were reimbursed by the national 
health insurance scheme. 

8  

https://gateway.euro.who.int/en/themes/obesity-physical-activity-and-nutrition/ 

4 

 
                                                           
Twenty-two  countries  reported  that  physical  activity  for  health  was  included  in  the 
curriculum for one or more types of health professional. All countries offered this to 
doctors,  and  18  also  offered  it  to  physiotherapists,  17  to  nurses  and  11  to  other  health 
professionals  such  as  nutritionists,  occupational 
therapists,  kinesiologists  and 
pharmacists. 

In the education sector, all Member States reported that physical education classes were 
held  in  schools.  The  number  of  hours  provided  in  each  country  is  presented  in  the 
country factsheets. The hours are mandatory for 21 countries in primary schools and 20 
countries in secondary schools. Twenty-four countries reported at least one scheme that 
promoted  physical  activity  in  schools.  The  most  commonly  reported  scheme  (20 
countries)  was  after-school  programmes;  15  countries  reported  national  initiatives  for 
active  school  breaks,  and  14  had  schemes  for  active  breaks  during  lessons.  Fifteen 
countries reported a national programme for active travel to school. Training of physical 
education teachers in HEPA was reported by 21 countries. 

Five  countries  reported  having  implemented  the  European  guidelines  for  improving 
infrastructure  for  leisure-time  physical  activity  at  national  level.  A  number  of  related 
national  schemes  or  programmes  to  improve  infrastructure  for  leisure-time  or 
recreational physical activity were reported. 

Fifteen  countries  reported  that  they  had  a  scheme  to  promote  physical  activity  at  the 
workplace, and 19 reported schemes to encourage active travel to work. 

Twenty-three countries reported an established national campaign to promote physical 
activity, in which several types of media were used. More than one type was used in the 
campaign in 21 countries. 

Overall,  54%  of  the  reported  policies  and  action  plans  included  a  plan  for  evaluation 
(77% in 2015). 

5.  MEASURING THE PREVALENCE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY  

It  is  important  to  fully  understand  the  reasons  for  high  levels  of  physical  inactivity  in 
order  to  be  able  to  guide  and  develop  adequate  and  effective  physical  activity  policies 
that  can  help  boost  participation  and  reduce  barriers.  Data  allow  analysis  of  trends  and 
identification of effective actions and underserved policy areas and populations. 

Twenty-six  countries  reported  at  least  one  physical  activity  surveillance  system  in  one 
sector  (compared  to  17  in  2015),  and  24  reported  the  existence  of  one  system  in  the 
health  sector.  It  is  difficult  to  compare  levels  of  physical  activity  in  the  population 
between countries, since different methods and instruments are used to monitor physical 
activity.  The  first  report  in  2016  identified  the  publication  of  different,  and  sometimes 
contradictory,  data  from  the  different  survey  instruments  as  an  issue  that  needed  to  be 
addressed. 

5 

 
This  situation,  with  a  variety  of  survey  instruments  and  questionnaires  used  to  collect 
data across the Member States, remains unchanged. Twenty-one countries provided data 
on adult physical activity levels from independent national surveys.  Data resulting from 
EU surveys were also reported (five countries reported data from the Eurobarometer on 
sport  and  physical  activity  and  seven  used  the  European  Health  Interview  Survey 
(EHIS)9  results  as  their  national  data  on  physical  activity  levels).  Data  reported  for 
children  and  adolescents  came  mostly  from  national  surveys  or  from  the  Health 
Behaviour in School-aged Children survey10. 

In view of this, the Member States collaboration developed within the HEPA focal points 
network  and  with  the  WHO  has  led  to  the  Erasmus+  funded  project  EUPASMOS 
(European  Union  Physical  Activity  and  Sport  Monitoring  System)11,  involving  20  EU 
Member  States.  This  project  aims  to  create  a  harmonised  sport  and  physical  activity 
monitoring system by developing  an integrated and shared methodological  process  that 
will provide comparable, valid and reliable physical activity and sport participation data 
across EU Member States. The project will deliver data and a validated methodology by 
mid-2020.  It  will  also  deliver  recommendations  to  extend  the  EHIS,  which  currently 
includes a very limited section on physical activity. 

6.  EUROPEAN STATISTICS ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY 

The  Council  Recommendation  invited  the  Commission  to  examine  the  possibility  of 
producing  European  statistics  on  physical  activity  levels  based  on  data  collected  under 
the monitoring framework. 

Data on physical activity are collected within the EU surveys, mainly the EHIS, and are 
available  on  Eurostat  website,  under  Eurobase  domains  ‘Health’  and  ‘Sport’.  In  2018, 
Eurostat released a leaflet on sport-related statistics12, including data on physical activity 
levels, coming from the EHIS, wave 2014. The European Union statistics on income and 
living conditions (EU-SILC)13 module on health, conducted in 2017, also included a few 
variables about physical activity. 

In  the  monitoring  framework,  only  seven  Member  States  used  data  from  the  EHIS  to 
report  on  physical  activity  levels.  Integrating  the  EHIS  with  existing  national  and 
regional surveys remains a challenge, due to the different priorities of the surveys and the 
organisations  responsible  for  designing,  validating  and  implementing  the  surveys, 
especially  in  countries  where  there  is  good  monitoring  of  physical  activity  and  sports 

9   http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-

explained/index.php/Glossary:European_health_interview_survey_%28EHIS%29 

10   http://www.hbsc.org/ 
11   https://eupasmos.com/ 
12   https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-catalogues/-/KS-07-17-123 
13   https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/microdata/european-union-statistics-on-income-and-living-

conditions 

6 

 
                                                           
participation. Under the current public health statistics Framework Regulation14, the third 
edition  of the EHIS survey is taking place in  2019. Subsequent  surveys  will be carried 
out  under  the  upcoming  Regulation  on  integrated  European  social  statistics15.  Eurostat, 
other Commission services and the Member States are working together to agree on, and 
possibly improve, the survey instruments.  

7.  COOPERATION ON HEPA BETWEEN MEMBER STATES AND WITH THE 

COMMISSION 

The  Council  Recommendation  encourages  Member  States  to  cooperate  closely  among 
themselves  and  with  the  Commission  to  promote  HEPA  by  engaging  in  a  process  of 
regular  exchange  of  information  and  best  practices.  The  Commission  was  invited  to 
facilitate these exchanges and to support the Member States. 

The network of national focal points has enabled useful exchange of good practices and 
fostered  EU  collaboration.  Presentations  of  HEPA-promoting  good  practices  were 
systematically included in the meetings to facilitate exchanges of experience and lessons 
learned. In addition, a set of good practices was compiled in thematic factsheets on health 
and education (see section 3 above).  

to  help 

The  Commission  supported  the  WHO  in  providing  technical  assistance  to  individual 
them  develop  evidence-based  physical  activity  guidelines, 
countries 
recommendations  and  roadmaps  for  physical  activity  policies  in  different  sectors. 
Physical activity guidelines were developed for one country. Two publications aiming to 
help  countries  develop  or  expand  their  own  national  physical  activity  guidelines  were 
also produced16. 

In  2017-2019,  through  the  sport  chapter  of  the  Erasmus+  programme,  the  EU  also  co-
financed  a  total  of  33  collaborative  partnerships  and  eight  not-for-profit  European 
sporting  events  aiming  to  encourage  participation  in  sport  and  physical  activity.  These 
projects  involved  a  variety  of  stakeholders  from  higher  education,  public  authorities, 
NGOs  and  sports  clubs  in  all  28  Member  States.  This  enabled  outreach  to  people 
throughout  the  EU  in  their  local  environments,  and  the  targeting  of  various  sections  of 
the population including children, the elderly and people with disabilities. In December 
2017, the Commission organised a cluster meeting on ‘Encouraging participation in sport 
and  physical  activities’17,  bringing  together  all  related  projects  co-funded  by  the  EU  in 
2014-2016 with other relevant stakeholders, in order to identify policy-relevant outcomes 
and their possible use beyond the lifetime of the projects. 

14   Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 
on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work, OJ L 354, 31.12.2008, p. 70. 

15   COM(2016)551 
16   Not published at the time of writing 
17   https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/sites/eacea-site/files/brochureclustermeetingsport_2018_03.pdf 

7 

 
                                                           
Through  Horizon  2020,  the  EU  Framework  Programme  for  Research  and  Innovation 
(R&I),  the  Commission  supports  the  Joint  Programming  Initiative  Healthy  Diet  for  a 
Healthy Life (2016-2021)18. This initiative gathers 26 countries from within and outside 
Europe  to  align  national  R&I  strategies  and  to  fund  new  research  on  the  relationship 
between  diet,  physical  activity  and  health  and  prevention  or  minimisation  of  lifestyle-
related non-communicable diseases. With a budget of more than EUR 85 Million, more 
than 50 projects have been already funded, such as the knowledge hub on Determinants 
of Diets and Physical Activity (DEDIPAC)19, which brought together over 300 scientists 
from 13 countries.  

The  Member  States  and  the  Commission  also  work  together  in  the  context  of  the 
European Week of Sport to raise awareness of the benefits of sport and physical activity, 
regardless  of  age,  background  and  fitness  level.  In  2018,  the  European  Week  of  Sport 
took  place  in  all  Erasmus+  programme  countries,  and  was  extended  to  the  Eastern 
Partnership and Western Balkan regions. More than 48,000 events were organised in all 
the participating regions and partner organisations. 

Furthermore,  in  September  2017,  Tibor  Navracsics,  Commissioner  for  Education, 
Culture,  Youth  and  Sport,  Vytenis  Andriukaitis,  Commissioner  for  Health  and  Food 
Safety and Phil Hogan, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, launched 
the Tartu call for a healthy lifestyle, to promote healthy lifestyles in Europe, in particular 
among children. Two years later, the first results show that the Commission is using more 
funds, raising more awareness and gathering more knowledge than 2 years ago to tackle 
unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. 

Finally,  the  Commission  is  committed  to  playing  a  role  in  helping  local  and  regional 
authorities promote sport and healthy lifestyles, since they are closest to the public. For 
example,  in  2018  the  Commission  launched  the  SHARE  initiative  (SportHub:  Alliance 
for  regional  development  in  Europe)20  to  highlight  the  role  of  sport  in  regional 
development. 

8.  EVALUATION OF THE COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION’S ADDED VALUE 

The  Council  Recommendation  provides  the  EU  Member  States  with  the  impetus  to 
address  physical  inactivity  through  public  policy.  Of  the  total  148  policies  and  action 
plans reported by the EU Member States across all sectors relevant for HEPA promotion 
(152 were reported during the first reporting period), 89 were adopted after the adoption 
of  the  Council  Recommendation  in  November  2013.  The  WHO’s  Physical  Activity 
Strategy  for  the  European  Region  2016–2025  provides  further  incentive  for  the  EU 
Member States to act. 

18   https://www.healthydietforhealthylife.eu/ 
19   https://www.wur.nl/en/project/dedipac.htm 
20   https://ec.europa.eu/sport/policy/economy/share_en 

8 

 
                                                           
Maintaining  and  strengthening  the  HEPA  focal  points  network  is  a  key  element  of  the 
Council Recommendation. Representatives from the EU Member States meet regularly to 
discuss  and  learn  about  new  trends,  available  evidence  and  recent  developments  in 
HEPA.  This  allows  them  to  remain  well  informed  on  how  to  promote  HEPA  in  their 
countries,  and  highlight  its  importance.  Beyond  the  usefulness  of  the  focal  points 
network  for  exchanging  good  practices  (including  beyond  the  structured  framework  of 
the  meetings),  the  data  that  they  collect  under  the  monitoring  framework  provides  a 
revised overview of the implementation of HEPA-related policies and actions across the 
EU. 

It is crucial to use evaluation plans to assess the impact and effectiveness of policies and 
action plans at national level. Despite this, only 80 of the 148 reported policies or action 
plans  contained  one.  Nor  was  any  systematic  information  reported  on  whether  these 
evaluations  were  actually  carried  out.  This  should  be  addressed  in  the  next  monitoring 
round.  

Overall,  the  contributions  of  the  focal  points  to  the  monitoring  framework  were  very 
good. For future rounds of data collection, the survey instrument can be further improved 
to reduce the margin for interpretation, make cross-country data comparisons easier and 
avoid  situations  where  changes  of  focal  point  in  a  country  lead  to  different  reporting 
methods. 

The structured cooperation with the WHO Regional Office for Europe in the context of 
the  Council  Recommendation  has  proven  mutually  beneficial  and  has  included  joint 
dissemination  activities  and  improvement  of  the  WHO  European  Health  Information 
Gateway. In particular, the focal points found the support provided by the Commission, 
and the WHO Regional Office for Europe useful. 

The Commission received positive feedback from the Council Working Party on Sport, 
with  the  country  factsheets  on  physical  activity  considered  useful  to  very  useful.  The 
most valuable part of the exercise was the work carried out jointly by the different sectors 
at  national  level.  The  meetings  of  the  focal  points  are  also  considered  very  useful  for 
improving cross-sector and cross-border cooperation and for deepening discussions. The 
thematic  factsheets  on  education  and  health  were  considered  useful  to  very  useful  and 
should be repeated in the future, possibly by creating similar factsheets for other sectors 
such  as  transport,  urban  planning,  physical  activity  in  the  workplace,  social  security 
(seniors)  or  tourism.  Thematic  meetings  could  be  organised  in  sectors  such  as  urban 
planning and physical activity. 

9.  CONCLUSIONS 

This review of the implementation of the Council Recommendation for 2017-2019 shows 
positive  developments.  Several  new  policies  have  been  adopted.  The  greatest 
improvements  were  seen  in  the  number  of  countries  with  national  programmes  for 
counselling  on  physical  activity  and  exercise  prescription  by  health  professionals  and 
with  national  schemes  for  physical  activity  at  school  and  active  travel  to  school.  In 

9 

 
addition, more countries reported programmes to increase access to exercise or recreation 
facilities for socially disadvantaged groups, indicating better recognition of the unequal 
opportunities for physical activity. The Commission encourages the EU Member States to 
continue  strengthening  the  focus  of  their  national  programmes  on  children  and  young 
people, and to regularly provide information on their efforts. 

Cross-sector cooperation at national level has been further improved, and the focal points 
have  grown  into  a  strong  and  useful  network  for  cross-border  cooperation.  The 
Commission encourages the EU Member States to continue to share good practices and 
cooperate in relevant initiatives. 

Data  collected  on  the  physical  activity  of  the  population  suggest  that  levels  remain  too 
low.  Since  the  availability  of  reliable  data  is  essential  to  drive  policy-making,  the 
publication of contradictory data from different survey instruments remains an issue to be 
addressed.  The  Commission  welcomes  the  efforts  of  the  EU  Member  States  to  improve 
HEPA monitoring and surveillance and notes that they need to continue. 

Since  implementation  of  the  Council  Recommendation  began,  overall  progress  can  be 
seen  on  HEPA  promotion  and  monitoring  in  the  EU  Member  States,  but  continued 
support  will  be  useful.  The  Commission  will  continue  to  cooperate  with  the  WHO  to 
support  the  EU  Member  States  on  indicator  development,  data  collection  methods, 
dissemination and exchanges of good practice and tools for capacity building, and policy 
development. 

The  Commission  will  submit  the  next  report  on  the  implementation  of  the  Council 
Recommendation within 3 years. It will precede this exercise with a new round of data 
collection under the monitoring framework, and a third release of country factsheets on 
physical activity, possibly along with accompanying thematic sectoral factsheets. 

The need to update the Council Recommendation, particularly to improve the monitoring 
framework and the indicators, could be assessed as part of the next report. 

10 

 
Annex – Implementation of the 23 indicators in the Member States 

Figure 2 – 2015 

Figure 3 - 2018 

11 

CountryIndicator01Indicator02Indicator03Indicator04Indicator05Indicator06Indicator07Indicator08Indicator09Indicator10Indicator11Indicator12Indicator13Indicator14Indicator15Indicator16Indicator17Indicator18Indicator19Indicator20Indicator21Indicator22Indicator23Country totalAustria1110010010111011011111116Belguim1111110111111111101111121Bulgaria0110111010001100100001111Croatia011011001010110000000109Cyprus010001001000101000000106Czechia0111111011011111001011016Denmark1110110111011111101101118Estonia1111110011011010110011116Finland1111111111111111111111123France1111110010111000101001114Germany1111111111111010111111121Hungary1111110110111111101111120Ireland1111111111001111101111019Italy1110011110001101100001012Latvia1110110011111110000001114Lithuania1111110011011010000001113Luxembourg1111110011001100101011115Matla1111110011011110100001115Netherlands1110110111011000101101014Poland0110110011011010000011112Portugal011111001000100000000108Romania0111010010011010000001110Slovakia011001001010101000100109Slovenia1111111111111110001111120Spain1111010011101110100111116Sweden1110110011101010100101013United Kingdom1111110111111111101111121Total1927261621277102717131727152091641412132718CountryIndicator01Indicator02Indicator03Indicator04Indicator05Indicator06Indicator07Indicator08Indicator09Indicator10Indicator11Indicator12Indicator13Indicator14Indicator15Indicator16Indicator17Indicator18Indicator19Indicator20Indicator21Indicator22Indicator23Country totalAustria1111110111111111111100120Belgium1111110111111111101111121Bulgaria0111111011111110000001115Croatia1111110011111101001101117Cyprus0111110010111110000010113Czechia1111111111111111111110021Denmark1110110111111111101101119Estonia1111110111011111011111120Finland1111111111111111111111123France1111111111101101101001118Germany1111110011111110101111119Greece1110010110001110000011112Hungary1111110011101101001011116Ireland1111111111111111101111122Italy1110111111011001100001115Latvia1110110111111110100001015Lithuania1111110111011110000001115Luxembourg1111110001001101101011115Malta0111110101111110100001115Netherlands1110110111001000101101013Poland0110110010111010000101011Portugal0111110111011110100001115Romania0111110111111111000011117Slovakia1111010000101001101000111Slovenia1111110111111110001101118Spain1111110111111110100111119Sweden1111110111111111111111122United Kingdom1111110111111111101111121Total22282822262862025242122282421161851715142424