Do you live in world's laziest country?

Kiwis need to get moving more if research from Stanford is to be believed. Photo / 123rf.com

If you've ever wondered which country leads the way in terms of staying fit each day, your queries have been answered.

Scientists have collated smartphone data from more than 700,000 people to show how active different parts of the world are.

And residents of Hong Kong can proudly claim to be the fittest, walking an average of 6880 steps each day - the equivalent to about 6km.

But those living in Indonesia appear to be the laziest, managing just 3513, according to Stanford University researchers.

By comparison, Britons walk 5444 steps on a daily basis, less than 5km, topping their US counterparts who manage just 4774. New Zealanders fall further, with 4582 steps on average.

Scott Delp, a professor of bioengineeering behind the findings, told the BBC: "The study is 1000 times larger than any previous study on human movement.

"There have been wonderful health surveys done, but our new study provides data from more countries, many more subjects, and tracks people's activity on an ongoing basis.

"This opens the door to new ways of doing science at a much larger scale than we have been able to do before."

On average, the number of daily steps taken was 4961 - 4km, according to the research published in the journal Nature.

But many countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, also fell below the standard estimated amount. New Zealanders managed 4582, with Canada recording 4819 and Australia 4941.

Experts say the overall findings, which delved into multiple factors such as "activity inequality" and obesity rates in 46 countries, could help tackle bulging waistlines.

Contrary to popular belief, the main findings of average steps in each country had little impact on obesity levels.

Instead, activity inequality - dubbed the vast difference between the active and the non-active - was a more accurate reflection.

The researchers told the BBC the bigger the gap between the two sets of people, the more obese people who lived in the country.

Tim Althoff, a PhD candidate in computer science who was involved in the research, said: "For instance, Sweden had one of the smallest gaps between activity rich and activity poor. It also had one of the lowest rates of obesity."

His claims were backed by the findings, which showed the US and Mexico to have similar average step counts - but stark differences in activity inequality and obesity levels.

The findings were based on anonymous data from participants who used the Argus app on their phones, designed to track daily activity.