How many steps a day do you need?

The short answer

• About 7,000 steps a day went with a 47% lower risk of death from any cause than 2,000 steps, in a 2025 review of 57 studies.
• In 15 cohorts with 47,471 adults, the benefit levelled off at about 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day for people aged 60 and over, and 8,000 to 10,000 for younger adults.
• 10,000 is a fine goal if you can keep it, but it began as the name of a 1960s Japanese pedometer, not as a research finding.
• Official guidelines count minutes, not steps: 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week for adults.

What the largest studies found

Paluch and colleagues, Lancet Public Health, 2022

A pooled analysis of 15 cohorts with 47,471 adults, average age 65, followed for a median of 7.1 years. Compared with the quarter who walked least (a median of about 3,600 steps a day), the other quarters (about 5,800, 7,800 and 10,900 steps) had a 40% to 53% lower risk of death. The benefit levelled off at about 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day for adults aged 60 and over and at about 8,000 to 10,000 for adults under 60.

Ding and colleagues, Lancet Public Health, 2025

A review of 57 studies, 31 of them pooled, on daily steps and health. Compared with 2,000 steps a day, 7,000 steps went with a 47% lower risk of death from any cause, 47% lower risk of cardiovascular death, 37% lower risk of cancer death, 38% lower risk of dementia and 22% fewer depressive symptoms. The authors suggest that 7,000 a day may be a more realistic goal for many people, and that 10,000 remains a good target for those who are already more active.

Lee and colleagues, JAMA Internal Medicine, 2019

16,741 women with an average age of 72. About 4,400 steps a day went with a 41% lower death rate than about 2,700, and death rates kept falling up to about 7,500 steps a day, where they levelled off.

Saint-Maurice and colleagues, JAMA, 2020

4,840 US adults aged 40 and over, followed for about 10 years. Compared with 4,000 steps a day, 8,000 steps went with a 51% lower risk of death and 12,000 steps with a 65% lower risk.

These are observational studies: they show that more steps go with lower risk, not that steps alone cause it.

Where 10,000 steps came from

The number is older than the research. A pedometer sold in Japan in 1965 by Yamasa was called the manpo-kei, the "10,000-steps meter", and the figure spread with Japanese walking clubs and as a slogan.

Researchers have since described ranges rather than one number. In 2004, Tudor-Locke and Bassett proposed fewer than 5,000 steps a day as sedentary, 5,000 to 7,499 as low active, 7,500 to 9,999 as somewhat active, 10,000 or more as active and more than 12,500 as highly active.

What official guidelines say

The World Health Organization's 2020 guidelines recommend that adults do 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle strengthening. They are written in minutes, not steps. The US CDC gives the same minimum of 150 minutes a week.

How to pick your own goal

• Start from what you walk now. If you average 4,000 steps a day, aim for 5,000 to 6,000 first; in the studies, the first few thousand extra steps made the biggest difference.
• Raise it slowly. Stepdy's walking plan, for example, asks for about 5% more than the two weeks before.
• Choose a number you can reach on most days, and let rest days cover the rest: a goal you keep beats one you give up.
• If you have a health condition, ask your doctor what is right for you.

Counting your steps

An iPhone counts your steps while you carry it and an Apple Watch while you wear it; the Health app combines the two. In Stepdy you can set a daily goal from 5,000 to 20,000 on the slider, keep a streak with rest days and, with Pro, follow a walking plan built from your last two weeks. We make Stepdy.