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In addition, a quarter of the respondents said that while they visit health trails occasionally, they are not certain about their classification, spokespeople for the foundation told.

Founders of the Estonian Health Trails Foundation -- the listed Estonian construction group Merko Ehitus, Swedbank and the state-owned energy group Eesti Energia -- have contributed over 5 mln euros since 2005 to building a network of health trails in the state and to shaping people's mobility habits. The total investment by the state, local governments and the EU amounts to 51 mln euros. Regularly maintained outdoor health trails established over these 15 years number 118 and indoor trails 78.

Results of Kantar Emor's survey carried out in July show that one-third of Estonia's residents have visited health trails, and 8 % of this segment visit them several times per week and 9% once per week. 25% of the respondents visit health trails a few times per month, 15% once per month and 30% at least once per six months. 

Rait Pallo, chairman of the supervisory board of the Health Trails Foundation, said that there is much room for improvement in terms of new health trail users and regularity of exercise.

"If we compare the number of healthy life years of Estonian people with the results of other European states, it appears that Estonian people's health is among the poorest in Europe. The average number of healthy life years for an Estonian man is 52.7, whereas that for a Swedish man, who is among the healthiest in Europe, is 73.7 years -- the difference is 21 years," Pallo said.

The low share of healthy life years significantly increases health care costs, he noted. Even though the average age of Estonians is exhibiting an upward trend, it must be noted that while the number of life years increases, it does not mean that Estonian people live them actively.

Pallo said that the Estonian Health Trails Foundation aims to boost the number of heath trail users by at least one-third over the coming three years and increase Estonian people's number of healthy life years -- an ambitious goal that also requires a contribution from the society, individuals and the state.

Participants in Kantar Emor's study numbered 1,219 and the results thereof show that people mainly visit health trails for the purpose of moving in fresh air, which was mentioned by two-thirds of the respondents who had visited health trails. Other reasons also included discovering new locations, enjoying the benefits of exercise and taking a break from everyday routine. Keeping in shape and improving one's health is important to close to one-fourth of the respondents, particularly those aged below 24 and over 75.

The combined length of health trails that can be used throughout the year in Estonia is over 1,100 kilometers. The trails are maintained by a 200-strong team either on a voluntary basis or in cooperation with local governments. A total of 78 indoor health trails in numerous buildings, such as schools, offices, kindergartens and hospitals, are daily used by over 70,000 people.