Majority of young Swiss well-trained, army fitness test reveals
The data also show a slight increase in the proportion of overweight conscripts, reflecting a broader societal trend, according to the army.
Keystone / Laurent Gillieron
More than half of young Swiss men and women are considered well-trained, with around 80% meeting the federal government's exercise recommendations, according to the Armed Forces 2023 fitness test.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
The test results indicate that anyone who engages in at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of intense exercise per week is deemed sufficiently active. Only 4.7% of those tested are considered inactive, the army announced on Monday.
In 2022, 52.8% of young people were classified as well-trained, a figure that has risen to 55.3% in 2023. Over the past three years, the proportion of well-trained young people has increased by 6%, though the reasons for this rise remain unclear.
The data also show a slight increase in the proportion of overweight conscripts, reflecting a broader societal trend, according to the army.
The fitness test comprises five exercises: standing long jump, medicine ball throw, trunk strength test, one-leg stand and endurance run. The evaluation is based on data from 34,343 young people, including 642 women.
Adapted from German by DeepL/amva
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Pope was a person full of respect: Swiss president
This content was published on
Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter, who is attending the funeral of Pope Francis, says the pontiff was always full of respect.
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
Swiss NGOs abroad to receive 10% less federal funding
This content was published on
In 2025 and 2026, Swiss NGOs will have 10% less federal funding available for international cooperation than in the previous two-year period.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.