What with the World Cup now underway and the Wimbledon tennis championships about to start next week, sport is on the brain for many people across the country. But how many people actually engage in the physical activities themselves?
Sport England aims to answer this question in its bi-annual Active People survey. Since 2005, the non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has been asking people in England about their sport participation.
The survey is the largest of its kind, sampling more than 165,000, and includes those aged over 14 (prior to 2012, the survey only included those aged over 16).
According to the latest data release covering April 2013 to April 2014, the number of over-16s playing sport once a week, every week has risen to a record 15.6m - 1.7m more than in 2005.
In the most active local authorities - Hart, Richmond upon Thames, St Albans, Corby and Tunbridge Wells - around half of the people participate regularly in sports.
More than 2.9m people are swimming regularly, making it the most popular sport in England by far. Football, athletics or cycling are part of the weekly routine for about five out of 100 people in England - a slight increase since last year.
Importantly the variation for these ‘big sports’ between this and last year’s survey is even smaller than the seasonal variation in sport participation, which you can explore on the Sport England interactive tool.
Fencing, canoeing and team sports such as rounders, netball and rugby union - still only played by a minority - actually gained most in popularity.
But there is a big gap between men and women. While over 40% of men exercise regularly, only 31% of women do. However, the gender gap has not changed much since the Active People survey in 2012/13.
Jennie Price, chief executive of Sport England said:
There is much more to do, including closing the unacceptable gap in participation between young men and young women...this will be an important focus for Sport England over the next 12 months
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