Penang's Walkability in Numbers
By Syafiqah Nazurah Mukhtar, Ng Kar Yong
September 2021 STATISTICS
A STUDY BY Stanford University from 2017 found Malaysia to be among the most inactive nations.1 It ranked third-last in the average number of steps taken per day, just slightly more than Saudi Arabia and Indonesia (Figure 1). Malaysians simply don't like moving about. Now, whether the figure is scientifically determined or not as being optimal in keeping you in good health, walking 10,000 steps daily has been suggested and widely accepted as a standard exercise for urban dwellers wishing...
References
- Tim Althoff, Rok Sosic, Jennifer L. Hicks, Abby C. King, Scott L. Delp, Jure Leskovec. (2017). Large-scale physical activity data reveal worldwide activity inequality. Nature, 547 (7663).
- Activity inequality uses the same concept as income inequality, referring to the differences in the level of physical activeness within a population.
- Parks in Seberang Perai will be covered in a future issue of Penang Monthly.
- Data is obtained from findings by Penang Institute and the Penang Geographic Information Centre (PeGIS). The information was updated as of September 2019, and is preliminary.
- This includes both land and sea areas. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Penang_National_Park, accessed 26 Jul 2021.
- As of July 28, 2021. Author notes that this number alone is unable to give any insights. However, data (such as urban tree canopy) is unavailable to make comparisons with other cities or states.
Syafiqah Nazurah Mukhtar
is an urban studies researcher who also loves to decorate homes and spaces.
Ng Kar Yong
is a statistician at Penang Institute who loves art and nature.
