Walking is good for you, but how much should you aim to walk, exactly? The idea that 10,000 steps a day was the golden standard for fitness traces back to a 1960s Japanese marketing campaign. They launched a pedometer called the manpo-kei, or “10,000-step meter,” ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and the number stuck, despite no evidence at the time that it led to better health.
Now, thanks to the largest review of step-count data ever conducted, researchers are setting the record straight. According to a comprehensive study published in The Lancet Public Health, walking just 7,000 steps a day is enough to deliver powerful health benefits—lowering the risk of death, dementia, depression, heart disease, and even cancer.
“Those who are currently active and achieving the 10,000 steps a day, keep up the good work,” Dr. Melody Ding, a professor at the University of Sydney and lead author of the study, told The Guardian. “However, for those of us who are far from achieving the 10,000 target, getting to 7,000 steps/day offers almost comparable health benefits.”
A Better Number
To get this new figure, Ding and her team analyzed 57 studies that covered thousands of adults around the world. They conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis (essentially combining the best available evidence from these studies) to determine how step counts relate to specific health outcomes.
Their results show a striking pattern. Compared to people who only managed about 2,000 steps per day, those walking 7,000 steps saw:
- A 47% lower risk of dying from any cause;
- A 25% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease;
- A 38% lower risk of dementia;
- A 37% lower risk of dying from cancer;
- A 22% lower risk of depression;
- A 28% lower risk of falls.
The new study is bigger and more nuanced than previous efforts. Rather than looking at only mortality or heart disease, Ding’s team explored a broader range of conditions, including cancer incidence and mortality, type 2 diabetes, cognitive decline, depressive symptoms, and falls.
These findings hold across a broad range of devices—accelerometers, pedometers, and smartphones—and across age groups and continents. Simply put, all this lends confidence to the findings.
The Science Behind the Steps
Their statistical models revealed that benefits typically increase the more you walk, but with a catch: gains begin to plateau after about 7,000 steps for most outcomes. In other words, more is still better—but not dramatically so.
For example, moving from 2,000 to 7,000 steps per day reduced the risk of death by 47%. Going from 7,000 to 10,000 steps nudged that number only slightly higher, to 48%.
And you don’t need to hit 7,000 all at once. Even 4,000 steps a day (about a 30-minute stroll) offered substantial benefits. In fact, the study found a 36% lower risk of dying compared with 2,000 steps.
“[This study helps] debunk the myth that 10,000 steps per day should be the target for optimal health,” Dr. Daniel Bailey, a sedentary behaviour expert at Brunel University London, also told The Guardian. “People can get health benefits just from small increases in physical activity, such as doing an extra 1,000 steps per day.”
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim for more, the researchers emphasize.
“It’s really important to not discourage people from taking 10,000 steps,” Ding told New Scientist. But 7,000 steps is “a lot more accessible and approachable” for most people.
The researchers stress that the quality and intensity of those steps also matter, though walking speed didn’t consistently predict outcomes across all conditions. The authors noted that the evidence for cadence was too limited to inform stepping rate recommendations.
Every Step Counts
Public health experts believe this new 7,000-step benchmark could help bridge the gap between what people should do and what they can do.
Jon Stride, a 64-year-old from Dorset, England, began walking daily after a heart attack in 2022. Now he regularly tops 16,000 steps. But for him, the number is only part of the story.
“It’s about getting out and about, and the benefits for our mental wellbeing that are tangible but not as easy to quantify as the simple step count,” he told the BBC.
And that, perhaps, is the study’s most powerful message: walking isn’t just about longevity or lab values. It’s about building a daily habit that’s measurable, motivating, and—above all—doable.
