Fitbit's 'Fittest Country' for 2017 is... Ireland (but Spain does the most steps)

And the UK apparently gets the most sleep
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Fitbit has been crunching the numbers on the data it gets from its users, now 50 million strong across 65 countries. And in the spirit of healthy competition, the fitness tracker maker has released rankings of Fittest Countries and Fittest Cities in America.

The lists are based on anonymous data from 23.2 million Fitbit wearers from 2016, specifically average daily steps, active minutes, Reminders to Move goals met as well as resting heart rate and duration of sleep. The take away? We should all be living more like the Irish.

Ireland tops the overall Fittest Countries list with the UK in second, followed by Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland. As Fitbit itself points out in the headline findings, the US is way down in 28th position overall.

Read this: 5 ways the Apple Watch can become a better Fitbit rival

Top of the sleep rankings is the UK where Fitbit users get an average of seven hours and 14 minutes of sleep a night. The rest of that top ten is made up of other European countries and New Zealand and if just over seven hours is the best we can do, we'd recommend a nap asap for the rest of the world.

When it comes to breaking out steps on their own, Spain actually topped that chart with an average of 9,023 steps a day, followed by Switzerland, Hong Kong, Sweden and New Zealand. We bet Spanish Fitbit users are kicking themselves at being so close to that default 10,000 steps a day target. Still, Spain is also the most active in terms of minutes, with an average of 27.9 minutes a day.

Check out all the Fittest Countries charts here to see how your country stacks up against the rest of the world.

Fitbit's 'Fittest Country' for 2017 is... Ireland (but Spain does the most steps)

Fitbit also totted up averages for the Fittest US cities with Duluth, Minnesota coming first and the Mid West as a whole doing very well. The top five was rounded out by Appleton, Wisconsin; Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Boulder, Colorado and Bellingham, Washington.

The Fitbit wearing residents of Eau Claire get the most sleep - 7 hours 6 minutes - and Appleton's 8,208 steps a day was enough to clinch it the most steps title. The most active city was Boulder with 21.8 minutes, followed by NYC. This time the analysis was based on 10 million users and again it was based on a full picture of their health tracking.

How do you feel about the Fitbit rankings? Where does your country or city feature? Let us know in the comments below.

Fitbit's 'Fittest Country' for 2017 is... Ireland (but Spain does the most steps)




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Sophie was Wareable's associate editor. She joined the team from Stuff magazine where she was an in-house reviewer. For three and a half years, she tested every smartphone, tablet, and robot vacuum that mattered. 

A fan of thoughtful design, innovative apps, and that Spike Jonze film, she is currently wondering how many fitness tracker reviews it will take to get her fit. Current bet: 19.

Sophie has also written for a host of sites, including Metro, the Evening Standard, the Times, the Telegraph, Little White Lies, the Press Association and the Debrief.

She now works for Wired.


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