# Frequency of regular walking among Croatian adults

## TL;DR

This study examines how often Croatian adults walk for at least 210 minutes per week and identifies factors influencing this behavior.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into walking habits and associated factors in the Croatian adult population.

## Key findings

- 40.9% of Croatian adults walk 210 or more minutes per week.
- The highest walking frequency is observed in Lika-Senj County with 76.8%.
- Walking frequency is associated with age, physical activity, and health conditions like diabetes.

## Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the share of Croatian adults who walk 210 min or more a week and to explore the relationship between regular walking and demographic factors, health-related behaviours, and chronic non-communicable diseases/conditions. To this end, we used the EHIS-PAQ questionnaire and collected self-reported data on minutes spent walking during a typical week from a total of 3,496 respondents. The data were additionally analysed by gender, age, education, residence (urban/rural), counties and regions, smoking, other types of physical activity, and diseases/chronic conditions. The results show that, overall, 40.9 % of the adult Croatian population walks 210 or more minutes a week, with the largest share found among those from the Lika-Senj County (76.8 %), those who spend 300 min or more weekly on health-enhancing (non-work-related) aerobic physical activity (57.6 %), those who reported having diabetes (49.3 %), and those aged 65–74 years (44.7 %). Despite its limitations, our study gives a valuable insight into the frequency and factors determining healthy walking habits in a representative sample of Croatian adults and provides grounds for further research.