There are two million more adults getting active on a regular basis through
sport and physical activity than in 2016, despite the impacts of the
coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and increased cost of living pressures.
The new figures, published in Sport England’s latest Active Lives Adult
Survey report, show that between November 2022 and November 2023, 63.4% of the
adult population met the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of doing 150
minutes, or more, of moderate intensity physical activity a week. That’s equivalent
to 29.5 million adults in England playing sport or taking part in physical
activity every week.
This figure is largely unchanged from 12 months ago when 63.1% were active
but means that, compared to when Sport England first ran the survey between
November 2015 and November 2016, there are two million more active adults – an
increase of 1.3%.
The number of people classed as inactive – averaging fewer than 30 minutes a
week – has remained steady over the last year and 25.7% of the population
(11.9m) are in this category compared to 25.8% 12 months ago.
The Active Lives Adult Survey Report also gives a detailed understanding of
the factors that influence how likely a person is to be
active.
A person’s age, sex, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic group, whether they
have a disability or long-term health condition, and the place they live in are
all significant factors impacting our relationship with sport and physical
activity.
The report underlines that many longstanding inequalities remain, with
women, those from lower socio-economic groups and Black and Asian people still
less likely to be active than others.
It’s why Sport England has put tackling these inequalities at the heart of the
Uniting the Movement strategy and, next week, will be announcing details of a
new £160m Movement Fund – which will replace a number of smaller programmes
including the Small Grants and Active Together funds, making funding easier to
access than ever before and ensuring investment is targeted where it can make
the biggest difference.
The report also shows that where you live impacts on how likely you are to
be active, with those living in more deprived places less likely to be active
than those in places that are less deprived, from a high of 79% active in
Brighton and Hove to a low of just 49% active in Barking and Dagenham.
This is why Sport England is investing £250m in local communities with
higher levels of deprivation across England.
Where it has piloted this approach, the places it has worked have
outperformed expectations, with activity levels growing more rapidly than other
comparable areas of a similar demographic.
Sport England is now expanding this approach to 80-100 new areas where it
can make the biggest difference.
More positively, while the older a person gets the less likely they are to
be physically active, we’ve seen activity levels continue to grow among older
adults over the past 12 months.
Activity levels for those aged 55+ are the highest they’ve been since
records began, with those aged over 75 particularly driving this trend.
Currently, 42.8% of people aged over 75 are physically active compared to just
33.4% between November 2015 and November 2016.
The publication also outlines types of activities people are taking part in
and how this is changing over time.
Active travel and fitness activities, which were significantly impacted by
the pandemic, continue to recover as over a million more adults (+2.1%) have
walked or cycled for travel and 802,000 (+1.5%) more have taken part in fitness
activities compared to 12 months ago.
Furthermore, swimming numbers are now back in line with pre-pandemic
(November 2018-19) levels following an increase of 400,000 (0.8%) compared to
12 months ago, while the number of people playing team sports continues to
increase and is now at the highest level seen for six years.
The report complements the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey published
in December.
That report, which focussed on children’s activity levels across the 2022-23
academic year, showed activity levels were back in line with those recorded in
the 2018-2019 academic year, the last full year before the pandemic, and are
once again higher than in 2017-18 when it launched the survey.
