American children aren't the only couch potatoes with nearly one third of children globally spending three hours a day or more watching TV or on computers, according to study of over 70,000 teens in 34 nations.

一项面向34个国家7万多名青少年开展的调查显示，爱泡在电视机前的并非只有美国儿童，全球近三分之一的儿童每天看电视或玩电脑的时间达到三小时甚至更多。

American children aren\'t the only couch potatoes with nearly one third of children globally spending three hours a day or more watching TV or on computers, according to study of over 70,000 teens in 34 nations.

From Argentina to Zambia（赞比亚） , Regina Guthold of the World Health Organization in Geneva and her colleagues found most children aren't getting enough exercise and it made no difference if they lived in a rich or a poor country.

"With regards to（关于，至于） physical activity levels, we did not find much of a difference between poor and rich countries," Guthold said. "Growing up in a poor country does not necessarily mean that kids get more physical activity."

The study, published in The Journal of Pediatrics（小儿科） , looking at 72,845 schoolchildren aged¹ 13 to 15 from North and South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The children were surveyed between 2003 and 2007.

The researchers defined adequate physical activity as at least an hour of exercise outside of gym class at least five days a week.

Children who spent three or more hours a day watching TV, playing computer games, or chatting with friends -- aside from time in school or time spent doing homework -- were classified as sedentary（久坐的，坐惯的） .

The researchers found only one quarter of the boys and 15 percent of the girls were getting enough exercise by these definitions.

A quarter of boys and nearly 30 percent of girls were sedentary and didn't get enough exercise with girls less active than boys in every country aside from Zambia.

Uruguay had the highest percentage of active boys, at 42 percent, while Zambia had the lowest, at 8 percent.

Girls from India were the most active, with 37 percent meeting exercise recommendations, while girls from Egypt were the least active, with just 4 percent getting adequate exercise.

Children in Myanmar were the least sedentary, with 13 percent of boys and 8 percent of girls classified as sedentary. The most sedentary nations were St. Lucia and the Cayman Islands, with 58 percent of boys and 64 percent of girls spending at least three hours a day in sedentary activities.

While the study didn't look at the reasons behind the lack of physical activity in various nations, Guthold speculated that urbanization could be a factor as well as access to cars and TVs.