The number of people playing sport and taking part in physical activity in England is at the highest level on record, according to the latest Active Lives Adult Survey Report, published by Sport England.
The new figures show that, between November 2023 and November 2024, 63.7% 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 30 million adults in England playing sport or taking part in physical activity every week – up more than 2.4m from when the survey results were first published in 2016.
The number of inactive adults, those doing less than 30 minutes of activity a week, is down, with this number falling by 121,000 in the last 12 months.
This reflects significant progress, especially considering the huge disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and is testament to the hard work of many organisations across the sport and physical activity sector.
In York and North Yorkshire, we remain one of the area with the lowest inactivity rates (those doing between 0-30 minutes per week) with 21.4% of the adult population classed as inactive, equivalent to 150000 people.
Whilst the overall increase is positive news, there are still notable differences in participation levels for those on lower incomes, with a disability or long term condition, or if you are female.
Commenting on the results, North Yorkshire Sports Director of Development George Cull says “The upward trend in participation levels is pleasing, but does not take away from the fact that there is still inequalities in those who take part and benefit from movement, physical activity and sport. We are continuing to focus our work in the areas of most need and with those underserved community groups to create the conditions for our residents in York and North Yorkshire to be active.”
Sport England have released a full insight pack to share the results at: https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-inspiration/record-numbers-playing-sport-and-taking-part-physical-activity
