Canberra workers are fatter, but more active, than their NSW counterparts.
That's the conclusion from a 10-year study of workers' health which found staff across the nation were fatter and less active than the national average.
An average ACT worker had a waist circumference of 88.2 centimetres in 2013, nearly five centimetres more than those from New South Wales.
Victorians were fatter again, with an average waist of 89.9 centimetres.
The handful of specific state and territory figures were provided after The Health Profile of Australian Workers was released earlier this month.
They showed 30.6 per cent of surveyed Canberra workers did two or less sessions of physical activity each week, better than the 33.8 per cent of NSW workers or 32.8 per cent of Victorians.
Victorians took the cake when it came to body mass indices - 75 per cent of the southern state's workers either overweight or obese. Nearly a half of Victorian workers were overweight and 27 per cent obese.
The combined ACT figure was 62.3 per cent and NSW 62 per cent, but Canberrans had a higher rate of obesity, with 22.6 per cent of workers in the highest weight category compared to 17.5 per cent of those from NSW.
The health profile was prepared by the University of Wollongong and Workplace Health Association Australia and surveyed about 50,000 workers across the nation during the decade.
In the past four years, 70 per cent of respondents were from Canberra.
A spokesman for the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development directorate said public servants - traditionally viewed as sedentary - were being encouraged to move by a range of initiatives under the government's Healthy Weight program.
"Initiatives include lunchtime activities such as yoga and pilates, facilities such as lockers and showers (available at many ACT public service workplaces) encouraging cycling to work and physical activities during the day, and computer-based applications such as office gym that provide automated reminders to stretch and move throughout the day," he said.
The spokesman said the government was undertaking a trial of an activity based work space, designed to encourage a more flexible and mobile work day.
Canberra businesses including PwC have already embraced the hot-desking which often goes with the change.
A separate targeted program helped staff who live with diabetes or other chronic health conditions, or were at risk of having them, through physical activity and lifestyle and nutrition education sessions.
