Our Impact
10,000 Steps has been supporting and encouraging positive changes in behaviour and environments for over 23 years. The 10,000 Steps Program aims to raise awareness and increase participation in physical activity by encouraging the accumulation of both incidental and planned physical activity as part of everyday living. This is supported by using step trackers in combination with evidence-based tools, resources and strategies delivered through our Program on website and mobile platforms.
Our Impact at a glance
The 10,000 Steps program has developed into one of Australia’s largest, longest running and most-recognised community health promotion projects. The Program supports individuals, workplaces, communities, and other stakeholder to promote and increase participation in physical activity.
As at September 2024, our program has achieved:
- 670,000+ members registered
- 415+ billion steps logged on the 10,000 Steps applications
- 11 million* website sessions and 65.7 million* page views
- 726,658 downloads of the 10,000 Steps mobile app
- 20,000+ Organisations registered of all sizes and from a range of industries
- 11,518 Tournaments started
- 68,524 teams comprised of 432,000+ individuals
- 160+ million Tournament steps logged
Individuals
We empower individuals to be motivated, accountable and supported to make positive physical activity changes and maintenance.
Workplaces
We support workplaces to increase physical activity levels, improve staff moral, health and wellbeing through changes in workplace environments, policies, culture and delivery of engaging strategies like team Tournaments.
Communities
We help to build capacity for councils and community organisations to promote physical activity and walking through creating supportive environments and engaging activities that connect people to their community.
Stakeholders
We establish and maintain a strong network of stakeholders across government, industry, other health agencies, peak bodies and communities to increase collaboration, systems and referrals and amplify preventive health outcomes.
Our Unique Value
10,000 Steps has now been supporting and encouraging positive changes in behaviour and environments since 2001. The surge of engagement with the 10,000 Steps Program since the start of the COVID19 pandemic demonstrates the ongoing popularity and relevance of the program and effectiveness in engaging large numbers of people regardless of geographical location, at a very low cost. Part of the unique value of the 10,000 Steps Program is that it is a simple, effective, impactful and popular population-based program.
There are many contributing factors to the ongoing success of the 10,000 Steps Program including:
Confidence and credibility of the program as an evidence-based initiative.
High awareness of the program across all audiences in Queensland (80.3%), and Australia (71.3%).
Promotion of a simple, clear and prescriptive program title “10,000 Steps” and message “Every step counts.” that can also be tailored to individual needs.
Ongoing evolution and adaptability of the program (including website updates, technology changes, activity tracking devices) that is guided by ongoing evaluation and evidence-based research.
Cross-promotion and incorporation of 10,000 Steps at the policy level across Government departments, other health programs, corporate and private workplaces, health service providers, schools and universities.
Ongoing support and resources provided by the program to those using the website and implementing strategies.
Delivering resources and building capacity for Councils, communities and workplaces to embed sustainable environmental and policy changes to facilitate healthy places and healthy workers.
Reference: Vandelanotte, C., Van Itallie, A., Brown, W., Mummery, W.K., Duncan, M.J. (2020). Every Step Counts: Understanding the Success of Implementing The 10,000 Steps Project. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 2(268) pg. 15-30. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI200003.
10,000 Steps Program Achievements
Physical activity is an important contributor to good health, including reducing the risk of chronic disease and promoting healthy weight and good mental health. In Queensland, physical activity levels have increased 15% over the past 10 years (walking increased 100 minutes on average per week!), but they are still 9% below the national average.
INDIVIDUALS
Empowering individuals to become and stay physically active.
- > 750,000 members registered
- Gender: Male 31% | Female 69%
- Location: Major city 57% | Regional 40% | Remote 3%
- Average age: 41 years
"Keeps you mindful of the need to keep moving in our aim to meet our daily step goal challenge… MOTIVATION!" - Vera Miller
WORKPLACES
Providing resources and support to workplaces to promote physical activity and to create environments that foster healthy workers and healthy places.
- Of the 20,000 organisations who have signed up, 80% use the program to promote physical activity to their staff. The types of organisations include all sizes of workplace small (20%), medium (45%) and large (35%), all 20 industry categories and those in Queensland are spread geographically across the State in major cities (57%), regional (39%) and remote/very remote areas (4%).
"The reason my workplace participates every year is because it promotes collegiality at the same time as encouraging individuals to pay attention to their fitness. The health benefits extend beyond the programme itself as most of us carry on with good habits throughout the year, which makes us happier and more effective workers." - Margaret, Legacy Melbourne
COMMUNITIES
Encouraging healthy communities through promotion of our program and highlighting the need for creating environments that are conducive to walking.
- 20% of organisations signing up aim to promote the program to a community audience including schools, councils and clients.
"Having the backing of a nationally recognised brand, such as 10,000 Steps, added strength to our strategies and made it easier to engage with communities." - Andrew Packer, Apunipima Cape York Health Council
WEB AND MOBILE APPLICATIONS
Delivering an interactive and free physical activity web and mobile application.
- More than 415 billion steps have been logged on the 10,000 Steps web and mobile applications.
- Users can have their activity trackers sync steps into the 10,000 Steps program from Garmin, Fitbit, Google Fit and for mobile users iOS via the Apple Health app and Android via Health Connect.
- 2020-2021: 823,897 unique users visit the 10,000 Steps website, recording over 2.9 million sessions and 17.9 million page views, with users spending on average 4 minutes per session.
- Since the release of the new 10,000 Steps apps on Apple Store and Google Play in May 2023, a total of 80,000 new apps have been downloaded.
"We have enjoyed the App and will continue to use it." - Louise Lough, Corteva
TOURNAMENTS
Facilitating and supporting workplaces and community groups in the delivery of team-based step Tournaments and larger-scale health lifestyle challenges.
- More than 11,500 new Tournaments have been started by Organisations included a total of more than 68,000 teams made up of 432,000 individuals who collectively have logged more than 160 billion steps during their Tournaments.
- The 10,000 Steps Tournaments are effective in increasing participants’ physical activity levels at 6 weeks (80% meet national physical activity guideline) and 18 weeks (73% meet the guideline), with participants reporting they enjoyed taking part (90%), and that they would recommend 10,000 Steps to others (90%); and organisations reporting that 10,000 Steps resources are effective at promoting (95%) and increasing physical activity (93%), as well as affordable (75%) and not time-intensive (91%) to implement.
"I just wanted to send a big thank you to the team who make 10000 steps a reality for so many organisations. From what I understand the team is small, but are very responsive, worked with me to provide solutions to some issues we had (which were completely our issues not theirs), and just provide overall exceptional service." - Sarah Costley, Lake Macquarie City Council
PROMOTION AND COLLABORATION
10,000 Steps is more than a program delivering behaviour change, it is a whole of community movement that aligns with many Queensland Government priorities, that promotes physical activity and improves the health of Queenslanders.
- 10,000 Steps has a strong social media footprint across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and LinkedIn.
- Now funded by two agencies Health and Wellbeing Queensland and Preventive Health SA to increase physical activity levels across two Australian States.
- Involvement in the development of the new Queensland Walking Strategy and the Activate! Queensland 10-year Sport and Rec Plan, as well as being highlighted as a case study by Heart Foundation’s Healthy Active By Design and included as a program recommended in the Workplace Health and Safety's Queensland's Work health and wellbeing toolkit.
"Working with the 10,000 Steps team has provided opportunities for cross collaboration and promotion of both our services for the benefit of workplaces and workers. 10,000 Steps resources are promoted in the Work health and wellbeing toolkit and to our stakeholders on an ongoing basis at presentations and workshops. The opportunity to include the Work health and wellbeing toolkit in the Active Workplaces Guide is appreciated. The Active Workplaces Guide is an excellent resource for workplaces, giving them the rationale and step by step process for promoting physical activity and other chronic disease risk factors in the workplace as well as promoting other services that meet the objective of getting workers to move more. - Alison Abbott, Workplace Health & Safety Queensland
Our Program
Our Research