ABSTRACT
The Swiss transport micro-census is a complex database with data from 62,686 individuals aged 6–99 interviewed by telephone, in a representative stratified sample covering the whole of Switzerland. Some 85% of Switzerland's 8.5 million people live within the 50 statistically recognised conurbations, which, together, cover only 8% of the surface area of this nation. Despite research interest for walking, little is known about the distribution of this activity in the general population. In Switzerland, an average walking distance of 1.9 km per person and per day was estimated by the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics. But information was lacking about the distribution of walking within the population. It can be seen that although the average distance covered while walking is 900 metres, the median distance is only 430 metres. This indicates that most walking distances are significantly shorter than 900 metres, but that a limited number are a lot greater, going up to a maximum of 60 km.
