Greek youth are more physically active than young people anywhere else in the European Union, according to new figures from Eurostat. Nearly every Greek between the ages of 16 and 29 did some kind of exercise outside work in a normal week in 2025.
Eurostat put the number of people who did ‘no exercise’ at all at 0.0%. Across the EU, 16.3% of young people said they did no exercise. That is about 1 in 6.
Denmark came closest to Greece. Just 1.2% of young Danes said they did no exercise. The figure was 1.7% in Finland and 2% in the Netherlands.
Young people in some other countries were far less active. Malta had the highest number in the EU at 31%. Portugal and Bulgaria were close behind at about 28% each.
Greek youth stay physically active, beating Europe’s biggest economies
Greece also beat the EU’s biggest economies by a wide margin. About 23% of young people in France and 22% in Italy said they did no exercise. In Spain it was 15%, and in Germany it was 14%.
In Greece, how long young people stayed in school made no real difference. Researchers found Greek youth were physically active whether they left school early or earned a university degree. Across the EU, young people with less education were almost twice as likely to skip exercise as those with a degree.
This is not a new trend for Greece. In 2022, only 2% of young Greeks said they did no exercise. That was already the lowest rate in the EU.
Older Greeks are less active but still rank fifth in the EU
The picture changes for older Greeks. When Eurostat looked at all Greeks aged 16 and over, including people in their 30s, 40s and beyond, about 12% said they did no exercise in 2025. Since almost every young Greek stays active, nearly all of those people are aged 30 or older. That number has barely changed since 2022.
Even so, Greece still does better than most of Europe. Across the EU, 26% of people in the same age group said they did no exercise, or about 1 in 4. That puts Greece fifth in the EU, behind Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Among all Greeks aged 16 and over, education mattered much more. About 25% of those with little schooling said they did no exercise, up from 23% in 2022. For people with a high school education, it was 6%. For university graduates, it was 5%.
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