Is Taiwan Failing Its Youth? The Alarming Decline in Physical Activity
"A comprehensive look at the 2018 Chinese Taipei Report Card reveals a concerning trend in the physical health of Taiwanese children and youth."
Recent surveys in Taiwan paint a troubling picture: a significant portion of children and youth are not engaging in enough physical activity. This lack of activity can lead to severe health and economic problems later in life, creating a burden on individuals and society. Recognizing this urgent issue, the Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) Report Card Team was established in 2017.
The team's mission was to conduct a thorough, evidence-based evaluation of physical activity-related indicators among children and youth. Their work culminated in the 2018 Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) Report Card, which assesses nine key indicators to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of youth physical health.
This article summarizes the findings of the 2018 Report Card, shedding light on the areas where Taiwan is succeeding and, more importantly, where it is falling short in promoting physical activity among its youngest citizens. By understanding these results, we can begin to address the challenges and work towards a healthier future for Taiwanese children and youth.
A Widening Youth Activity Concern
Available evidence points to a substantial physical-activity concern among Taiwan’s children and adolescents. The decline may affect health, fitness, and everyday well-being, although the scale of the problem varies by measure and population. A cautious reading suggests that strong concern is warranted, while more consistently reported national figures would be needed to quantify the full impact.
Support Does Not Ensure Movement
Taiwan’s 2025 report card finds exemplary institutional and environmental support for physical activity, yet actual youth activity levels remain critically low. The 2018 report card similarly linked low physical activity and high screen time with sub-optimal physical fitness, graded B−, while noting that governments had recognized the issue through policy and facility improvements. Together, these reports expose a limitation of relying on infrastructure and policy measures alone: formal support does not necessarily translate into active behavior.
Toward Longitudinal Assessment
The 2025 Taiwan Report Card represents an effort to assess national physical-activity trends longitudinally. Its stated objective is to examine both changes over time and the relationship between institutional support and actual behavioral outcomes. This framing marks a shift from documenting policies and facilities alone toward evaluating whether those supports produce measurable movement among young people.
Key Indicators and Their Grades
The 2018 Chinese Taipei Report Card, utilizing the framework provided by the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, evaluated nine core indicators crucial to understanding the physical activity landscape of children and youth. These indicators, common across the Global Matrix 3.0, offer a standardized way to compare Taiwan's performance with other nations.
- Overall Physical Activity: A concerning "F" grade indicates that only a small percentage of Taiwanese youth meet the recommended physical activity levels. Specifically, only 5.4% of 13- to 15-year-olds and 12.1% of 16- to 18-year-olds accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily.
- Organized Sport Participation: A "D-" grade reveals low involvement in sports teams and clubs within schools. Participation rates range from 20% to 28% among different age groups.
- Active Transportation: A "C-" grade suggests moderate engagement in active commuting. Around 33-46% of 7- to 18-year-olds reported walking or biking to school on most days.
- Sedentary Behaviors: A "C-" grade indicates high levels of sedentary behavior, with many youth spending excessive time studying or using the internet.
- Physical Fitness: A "B-" grade suggests a reasonable level of physical fitness, but with a concerning trend of deterioration over the past 20 years.
- School: A "B+" grade reflects the mandatory physical education classes and the availability of facilities. Most schools follow the two physical education classes per week.
- Community and Environment: A "B+" grade points to a generally positive perception of exercise facilities in neighborhoods.
- Government: A "B+" grade indicates a strong commitment to improving infrastructure and promoting physical activity through various initiatives and increased budgetary support.
The 2025 Report Card’s Central Finding
The 2025 Taiwan Report Card highlights a persistent gap between strong institutional support and the physical-activity behaviors of children and adolescents. Its emphasis is not simply on whether policies or supportive settings exist, but on whether young people are actually moving. This makes the report relevant to current reviews of Taiwan’s progress and remaining shortcomings.
Policy Progress Has Limits
Taiwan’s policy and institutional efforts may indicate meaningful recognition of youth physical activity as a public concern. However, support structures alone do not establish that children and adolescents are sufficiently active. The central unresolved issue is whether implementation reaches daily behavior across different young people and settings.
Taiwan in the Global Matrix
Taiwan joined the Global Matrix 3.0 in 2018 to share local data on childhood physical activity and related factors with the international community. The 2022 report card describes physical inactivity as highly prevalent among Taiwanese children and adolescents. This places Taiwan within an international comparison framework while also underscoring the seriousness of its domestic inactivity problem.
Looking Ahead: Addressing the Challenges
The 2018 Chinese Taipei Report Card serves as a critical wake-up call. Despite government and school efforts, physical activity levels remain low, while sedentary behaviors remain high. The traditional emphasis on academic excellence appears to overshadow the importance of physical well-being. The missing link may be the influence of family and peers, highlighting the need for interventions that engage these key social circles. Future research should focus on this critical issue to pave the way for more effective strategies to promote a healthier, more active lifestyle for Taiwanese children and youth.
Support Must Become Participation
The available evidence suggests that Taiwan’s challenge is not simply a lack of institutional attention. The more difficult task is converting supportive policies and environments into regular physical activity among children and adolescents. Any overall judgment should therefore distinguish between progress in formal support and outcomes in everyday behavior.
Measuring What Changes Behavior
Future work will likely need to focus on the connection between supportive settings and actual movement. More attention to how children and adolescents respond in daily life could clarify why formal support has not produced sufficiently high activity levels. Longitudinal assessment may help identify which interventions lead to durable behavioral change.
The Implementation Gap
The reported pattern points to a broader systemic challenge: institutions can provide policies, facilities, and environmental support without guaranteeing participation. Youth physical activity is shaped by the interaction between these supports and everyday behavior. Addressing the problem therefore requires more than expanding formal commitments; it requires understanding why those commitments are not consistently reflected in movement.
Activity in Adolescents’ Daily Lives
A cross-sectional study in Taiwan investigated the association between school environment, after-school physical activity, and health-related physical fitness in Taiwanese adolescents. Separately, the 2022 report card describes physical inactivity as highly prevalent among children and adolescents. Together, these sources connect the issue to young people’s school and after-school experiences, as well as to their physical-fitness outcomes.