Global marketing research firm GfK quizzed 4,900 people in 16 countries, but users in the UK rank well below average
One in three people monitor or track their health and fitness via an online or mobile app, or via a fitness band, clip or smartwatch.
This is according to a survey by global market research firm GfK, which quizzed 4,900 internet users in 16 countries who currently track their health or fitness.
China leads the way with 45 per cent of the online population monitor health and fitness in this way, followed by Brazil and the US (29 per cent), Germany (28 per cent) and France (26 per cent).
In the UK, almost a fifth (19 per cent) said that they track their wellbeing using an online service while 16 per cent have previously used online services but do not anymore.
The survey also found that 21 per cent of the men and 18 per cent of the women who took the survey in the UK used online apps or gadgets to track their fitness. Those statistics are over 10 per cent less than the global average in both respective fields.
When asked why they monitor their health via online app and gadgets, over half said they do so to maintain or improve their fitness condition, with a similar number claiming these apps and gadgets motivated them to exercise. Almost a third said they wanted to lose weight and to have a better nights sleep.
Just eight per cent use health and fitness services to compete with other people.
Broadening appeal
GfK global lead for wearables research Jan Wassmann said: “These findings demonstrate the attraction that health and fitness monitoring has within much wider groups than just the obvious young sports players.
“Manufacturers and retailers can use these insights – combined with our point-of-sales data on purchases of wearable devices – to understand who are their real-life users and why, and tailor their products to deepen that appeal.”