How many steps a day do you really need? What the evidence says by age

Ten thousand steps a day gets repeated like a law of nature. The large studies of the last few years, following tens of thousands of people, paint a more useful and more encouraging picture: the benefit starts well below 10,000, levels off at different points depending on your age, and every extra step counts.

The short version

• Under 60: the drop in mortality risk levels off at around 8,000–10,000 steps a day.
• 60 and over: it levels off at around 6,000–8,000 steps a day.
• 7,000 steps a day is linked to a 47% lower risk of death than 2,000 steps.
• Every extra 1,000 steps a day is linked to about a 15% lower risk of death.

Steps per day by age

A 2022 analysis by Paluch and colleagues, covering 47,471 adults, found that the risk of death kept falling as daily steps went up, until it flattened out. Where it flattened depended on age:

Age	Where the benefit levels off
Under 60	8,000–10,000 steps a day
60 and over	6,000–8,000 steps a day

That doesn’t mean walking more than 10,000 steps is pointless or harmful. It means the extra reduction in mortality risk gets smaller past that point. If you want to walk more for fitness, weight or simply because you enjoy it, go for it.

Why 7,000 steps keeps coming up

A 2025 analysis by Ding and colleagues compared people walking 7,000 steps a day with those walking 2,000. At 7,000 steps they found:

• a 47% lower risk of death from any cause,
• 38% less dementia,
• 22% fewer depressive symptoms.

Seven thousand is within reach for most people, which makes it a great first target if 10,000 feels far away.

Every step counts, even a few

According to a 2023 analysis by Banach and colleagues:

• the benefit starts at around 3,867 steps a day for all-cause mortality and 2,337 steps a day for cardiovascular mortality,
• each extra 1,000 steps a day is linked to about a 15% lower risk of death.

So if you walk 3,000 steps a day, getting to 4,000 is a real gain. You don’t have to wait until you can hit the “perfect” number.

Pace matters as well as the count

It’s not only how many steps you take but how you take them. The average cadence of your best 30 minutes of the day (“peak-30 cadence”) is linked to lower risk independently of your total steps, and in a study on dementia the best results were seen at around 112 steps per minute.

For adults aged 21 to 60, 100 steps per minute is the threshold for moderate intensity, so it’s worth taking some of your daily steps at a brisk pace. More in the brisk walking and cadence guide.

How to set a realistic step goal

1. Find your current average. Your phone or watch is already counting; look at the last week.
2. Add 1,000 steps. At 100 steps a minute, that’s about 10 extra minutes of walking.
3. Hold it for two weeks, then add another 1,000.
4. Once you reach the level-off range for your age, focus on making more of those steps brisk rather than chasing a bigger number.

The WHO also recommends 150–300 minutes of moderate activity a week for adults. A daily 30-minute brisk walk counts toward your step goal and that recommendation at the same time.

Step goals in Durma

Durma reads your daily steps from Apple Health or Health Connect, so steps from your phone and your watch are never counted twice. It suggests a starting goal based on your age, and the goal can adapt as you walk if you turn that on. Missing your goal one day doesn’t wipe out your streak either: walk consistently and you earn streak freezes.