Ramírez Varela, AndreaHallal, Pedro C.Mejía Grueso, JulianaPedišić, ŽeljkoSalvo, DeborahNguyen, AnitaKlepac, BojanaBauman, AdrianSiefken, KatjaHinckson, EricaOyeyemi, Adewale L.Richards, JustinSalih Khidir, Elena DanielaInoue, ShigeruAmagasa, ShihoJauregui, AlejandraCozzensa da Silva, MarceloLee, I-MinDing, MelodyKohl III, Harold W.Ekelund, UlfHeath, Gregory W.Powell, Kenneth E.Foster, CharlieRaoof Memon, AamirDoumbia, AbdoulayeRoof Rather, AbdulRazzaque, AbdurDiouf, AdamaAkira Hino, AdrianoDamasceno, AlbertinoAbebe, Alem DeksisaFlorindo, Alex AntonioMannocci, AliceAringazina, AltynBackovic Jurican, AndreaPoffet, AndreaDecelis, AndrewCarlin, AngelaLeppe Zamora, Jaime2024-05-302024-05-302023J Phys Act Health. 2023 February 01; 20(2): 112–128. doi:10.1123/jpah.2022-0464..https://hdl.handle.net/11447/8955Angelica Enescu, Angélica María Ochoa Avilés, Anna Kontsevaya, Annamaria Somhegyi, Anne Vuillemin, Asmaa El Hamdouchi, Asse Amangoua Théodore, Bojan Masanovic, Brigid M. Lynch, Catalina Medina, Cecilia del Campo, Chalchisa Abdeta, Changa Moreways, Chathuranga Ranasinghe, Christina Howitt, Christine Cameron, Danijel Juraki´ c, David Martinez-Gomez, Dawn Tladi, Debrework Tesfaye Diro, Deepti Adlakha, Dušan Miti ´ c, Duško Bjelica, Elżbieta Biernat, Enock M. Chisati, Estelle Victoria Lambert, Ester Cerin, Eun-Young Lee, Eva-Maria Riso, Felicia Ca˜ nete Villalba, Felix Assah, Franjo Lovri´ c, Gerardo A. Araya-Vargas, Giuseppe La Torre, Gloria Isabel Ni ˜no Cruz, Gul Baltaci, Haleama Al Sabbah, Hanna Nalecz, Hilde Liisa Nashandi, Hyuntae Park, Inés Revuelta-Sánchez, Jackline Jema Nusurupia, Jaime Leppe Zamora, Jaroslava Kopcakova, Javier Brazo-Sayavera, Jean-Michel Oppert, Jinlei Nie, John C. Spence, John Stewart Bradley, Jorge Mota, Josef Mitáš, Junshi Chen, Kamilah S Hylton, Karel Fromel, Karen Milton, Katja Borodulin, Keita Amadou Moustapha, Kevin Martinez-Folgar, Lara Nasreddine, Lars Breum Christiansen, Laurent Malisoux, Leapetswe Malete, Lorelie C. Grepo-Jalao, Luciana Zaranza Monteiro, Lyutha K. Al Subhi, Maja Dakskobler, Majed Alnaji, Margarita Claramunt Garro, Maria Hagströmer, Marie H. Murphy, Matthew Mclaughlin, Mercedes Rivera-Morales, Mickey Scheinowitz, Mimoza Shkodra, Monika Pi˛atkowska, Moushumi Chaudhury, Naif Ziyad Alrashdi, Nanette Mutrie, Niamh Murphy, Norhayati Haji Ahmad, Nour A. Obeidat, Nubia Yaneth Ruiz Go´mez, Nucharapon Liangruenrom, Oscar Díaz Arnesto, Oscar Flores-Flores, Oscar Incarbone, Oyun Chimeddamba, Pascal Bovet, Pedro Magalhães, Pekka Jousilahti, Piyawat Katewongsa, Rafael Alexander Leandro Go´mez, Rawan Awni Shihab, Reginald Ocansey, Réka Veress, Richard Marine, Rolando Carrizales-Ramos, Saad Younis Saeed, Said El-Ashker, Samuel Green, Sandra Kasoma, Santiago Beretervide, Se-Sergio Baldew, Selby Nichols, Selina Khoo, Seyed Ali Hosseini, Shifalika Goenka, Shima Gholamalishahi, Soewarta Kosen, Sofie Compernolle, Stefan Paul Enescu, Stevo Popovic, Susan Paudel, Susana Andrade, Sylvia Titze, Tamu Davidson, Theogene Dusingizimana, Thomas E. Dorner, Tracy L. Kolbe-Alexander, Tran Thanh Huong, Vanphanom Sychareun, Vera Jarevska-Simovska, Viliami Kulikefu Puloka, Vincent Onywera, Wanda Wendel-Vos, Yannis Dionyssiotis, and Michael Pratt.Background: Physical activity (PA) surveillance, policy, and research efforts need to be periodically appraised to gain insight into national and global capacities for PApromotion. TheaimofthispaperwastoassessthestatusandtrendsinPAsurveillance,policy, and research in 164 countries. Methods: We used data from the Global Observatory for Physical Activity (GoPA!) 2015 and 2020 surveys. Comprehensive searches were performed for each country to determine the level of development of their PA surveillance, policy, and research, and the findings were verified by the GoPA! Country Contacts. Trends were analyzed based on the data available for both survey years. Results: The global 5-year progress in all 3 indicators was modest, with most countries either improvingor staying atthe samelevel.PAsurveillance, policy, and research improved or remainedatahigh level in48.1%,40.6%, and 42.1%ofthecountries, respectively. PA surveillance, policy, and research scores decreased or remained at a low level in 8.3%, 15.8%, and 28.6% ofthe countries, respectively. The highest capacity for PA promotion was found in Europe, the lowest in Africa and low- and lower-middle-income countries. Although a large percentage of the world’s population benefit from at least some PA policy, surveillance, and research efforts in their countries, 49.6 million people are without PA surveillance, 629.4 million people are without PApolicy, and 108.7 million live in countries without any PA research output. A total of 6.3 billion people or 88.2% of the world’s population live in countries where PApromotioncapacity shouldbesignificantlyimproved.Conclusion: Despite PAis essential for health, there are large inequalities between countries and world regions in their capacity to promote PA. Coordinated efforts are needed to reduce the inequalities and improve the global capacity for PA promotion.17 p.enEpidemiologyGuidelines and recommendationsHealth promotionMeasurementPublic health practiceArticlehttps://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2022-0464