The decline in fitness seems to be leveling off in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and perhaps in the last few years in North America. However, it continues to fall in China. About 20 million of the 25 million children in the studies were from Asia.
In China, annual fitness test data show the country's students have been getting slower and fatter over the past couple of decades. Experts and educators blame an obsession with academic testing scores for China's competitive college admissions, as well as the popularity of indoor activities like gaming and Web surfing, for the decline. Data from China's Education Ministry show that in 2010 male college students ran 1,000 meters 14 to 15 seconds slower on average than male students did a decade earlier. Female students slowed by about 12 seconds in an 800-meter run.
