School will soon be out for the summer for most of the approximately 6.7 million Canadian children and youth aged 5 to 19 years.
Finally, it’s time to get outside, say the parents! But hold on, say a lot of those young Canadians, who want to spend some of that free time on their mobile devices, playing video games or watching TV.
We’re not taking a side in that debate, but we can help inform it. Let’s have a look at the latest StatCan analysis on the effects of screen time, physical activity and outdoor recreation among Canadian children and youth.
Many youth exceed screen time guidelines
According to the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS), while nearly half (46%) of children and youth aged 3 to 17 years met the recreational screen time guidelines in 2024, more than half (54%) exceeded them.
The Canadian Pediatric Society and Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology recommend no more than two hours of recreational screen time per day for children and youth aged 5 to 17 years, and no more than one hour per day for children aged 3 and 4 years.
A StatCan study released in the spring on screen time usage examined the relationship between adhering to screen time guidelines and well-being outcomes among youth. The study used data from the Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth on a group of youth in 2019, when they were aged 12 to 17 years, and the same group in 2023, when they were aged 16 to 21 years.
The study found that youth who met screen time guidelines in both years were more likely to report having positive well-being outcomes, including better mental health, higher life satisfaction and lower stress levels.
For example, youth who met screen time guidelines in both years were more likely to report having excellent or very good mental health (58%) than those who exceeded the guidelines (38%). Following physical activity guidelines also helped offset some of the associations between excess screen time and well-being outcomes.
Meeting physical activity guidelines declines during adolescence
Another StatCan study, released in fall 2025 using CHMS data, found that over 9 in 10 preschoolers aged 3 and 4 years (91%) and over half (52%) of children aged 5 to 11 years met recommended physical activity levels in the period from 2022 to 2024. These rates were largely unchanged from 2018 to 2019.
Among youth aged 12 to 17 years, however, the proportion meeting physical activity guidelines fell from 36% to 22%. Youth aged 12 to 17 years also had the highest average sedentary time among all age groups, at 10.6 hours per day.
The study also found that rates for children meeting screen time recommendations declined from 73% to 62%.
For more on this topic, one of StatCan’s senior health researchers joined the Eh Sayers podcast in fall 2025 for the episode “Screens replaced play, and our bodies noticed.”
Are households with younger children more active outside than those with teens?
The Households and the Environment Survey asks Canadians about their participation in outdoor activities. The latest data are from 2023, when almost 9 in 10 households (89%) with adults older than 30 years and children younger than 15 years participated in outdoor activities close to home. This was similar to 2021 (89%) and up slightly from 2011 (85%), when the survey first started tracking this category.
Participation rates were slightly lower in 2023 (85%), 2021 (82%) and 2019 (81%) among households with adults over 30 years, youth (aged 15 to 30 years) and children under 15 years of age, perhaps suggesting that teens and youth were slightly less active outside.
By comparison, households composed only of adults older than 30 years were the least likely to have reported participating in outdoor activities close to home in 2023 (72%).
Participation rates also varied by activity in 2023. For example, households with children younger than the age of 15 years (62%) were almost three times as likely to report going to the park or playground than households without children or youth (21%).
Walking was the most common activity among both groups, reported by 82% of households with children under 15 years and 68% of households without children or youth in 2023. Larger differences appeared for activities such as jogging, running, rollerblading or cross-country running (41% of households with children under 15 years compared with 10% of households without children or youth), as well as football, soccer, field hockey, basketball, baseball and other outdoor sports, including road hockey (45% compared with 4%).
Note to readers
The data cited on participation in outdoor activities are a custom tabulation from the Households and the Environment Survey.
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).