Average steps per day: what’s normal?

What is the average number of steps per day?

The short answer: about 5,000 steps a day. The best-known figure comes from a 2017 study by Tim Althoff and colleagues at Stanford University, published in Nature. They looked at step data recorded by the phones of more than 700,000 people in 111 countries. The worldwide average was 4,961 steps a day.

The study also found large differences between countries. People in Hong Kong walked the most, at close to 7,000 steps a day on average. Indonesia was at the bottom, at around 3,500. The researchers also found that the gap between the most and least active people in a country mattered. Countries with a big gap between high and low walkers had higher rates of obesity, even when their average was similar to other countries.

One point to keep in mind: phone-based studies only count steps when the phone is on you. If you leave it on a desk, those steps are missing. So the true average is probably a little higher than the recorded one, but not by enough to change the picture.

How many steps does the average American walk a day?

In the Stanford study, the United States came in a little below the global average, at just under 5,000 steps a day. That fits earlier research. A 2010 pedometer study led by David Bassett, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, found that US adults averaged a little over 5,000 steps a day. Adults in Western Australia, Switzerland and Japan, measured in similar studies, walked noticeably more.

A common explanation is how daily life is built. In many US towns, most trips are by car, and there are fewer reasons to walk to a shop, a station or a friend’s house. Where walking is part of getting around, people tend to walk more without thinking about it.

Why average step counts vary so much

An “average” hides a lot of differences. Your own daily count depends on things like:

• Your job. A nurse or a shop worker can pass 10,000 steps on a shift. A desk job might add only a couple of thousand.
• How you get around. Walking to public transport adds steps every day. Driving door to door removes them.
• Age. Step counts tend to fall as people get older.
• The day of the week. Many people walk much less on weekends, or much more.
• The device. Phones, watches and pedometers count slightly differently, and a phone only counts when you carry it.

That is why comparing yourself with a national average is less useful than comparing yourself with your own average from last month.

What is the recommended number of steps per day?

There is no single official step target. The World Health Organization’s guidelines are written in minutes, not steps. For adults, the WHO recommends at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity a week, such as brisk walking, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity. It also says that some physical activity is better than none. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans from the US Department of Health and Human Services give the same 150-minute starting point.

Step research gives a more concrete picture. In 2022, Amanda Paluch and colleagues published a meta-analysis in The Lancet Public Health that pooled data from 15 studies and nearly 50,000 adults. More daily steps were linked with a lower risk of death, and the benefit kept growing until it levelled off. For adults aged 60 and over, it levelled off at about 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day. For adults under 60, it levelled off at about 8,000 to 10,000.

So a reasonable reading of the evidence is: if you are near the average of 5,000, walking more is likely to help, and you don’t need to reach 10,000 for it to count. We look at the 10,000 number in more detail in is 10,000 steps a day right for you?. If you have a health condition, talk to your doctor about the right amount for you.

How does your step count compare?

A widely used way to group daily steps comes from researchers Catrine Tudor-Locke and David Bassett, published in 2004 in Sports Medicine. It is a rough guide, not a medical scale, but it gives you a sense of where you sit.

By this scale, the global average of about 5,000 steps sits right on the line between “sedentary” and “low active”. That isn’t a judgement. It just shows how much room most of us have to walk a bit more.

How to find your own average

If you carry an iPhone, it has probably been counting your steps for years. Open the Health app, tap Steps, and switch to the week or month view. It shows your daily average for that period. Android phones show the same in Google Fit or the phone maker’s health app.

Use the last two weeks as your baseline. A single day can be unusually high or low, and two weeks smooths that out. Note your weekday and weekend numbers too, since they are often very different.

How to raise your average step count

At a normal walking pace, most people take around 100 steps a minute. So 1,000 extra steps is roughly a ten-minute walk. That is a useful way to think about it: going from 5,000 to 7,000 steps is about twenty extra minutes on your feet a day, which you can split into two or three short walks.

• Add a little at a time. Aim for about 500 to 1,000 steps above your baseline, and hold that for a week or two before adding more.
• Fix the walk to a time. After lunch or after dinner works for a lot of people.
• Look at the week, not the day. A low Tuesday is fine if the week is moving up.
• Give the walk a reason. An errand, a friend, a podcast or a story you want to finish.

That last point is why we made Lore. It is a murder mystery you play by walking. A new case starts every Monday and runs for seven nights, and your steps unlock clues on a real map of your city. Lore asks how much you walk on a normal day, and offers three walking levels: Beginner for under 3,000 steps, Moderate for 3,000 to 7,000 and Active for over 7,000. Once it has your step data, it looks at your average over the last two weeks and suggests a different level if that fits better. The level only changes how many steps each clue takes. The story is the same for everyone.

You can see how a case works on how it works, or open this week’s case. For more ideas on building the habit, read how to walk more without forcing it and how to get 10,000 steps a day.

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