2. Active Nation: How active are adults?

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Research and Insight
Sport & Active Lifestyles: State of the Nation Report
National Survey for Wales 2024 -25
2. Active Nation: How active are adults?

The vision is to create an active nation, with as many people as possible inspired to be active through sport.

This section explores participation and frequency of participation in sport and physical activity across adults in Wales. The results help to explore progress toward The Vision for Sport in Wales.

2.1 National Participation

The population of Wales is approximately 3.19 million people [1], ofwhom2.49 million are defined as adults (those aged 16+ years old for the purpose of this report) and are represented in the NSW 2024-25 [2].

Almost six in every ten adults participated in sport and physical activity during the previous four weeks, representing 59% of all adults (1,449,000 adults).

Sports and physical activities can be categorised into broad groups. This report uses three broad groups: ‘Fitness Activities’, ‘Sports and Games’ and ‘Outdoor Pursuits’.

‘Fitness’ activities’ include running/jogging, cycling, swimming, going to the gym, fitness classes, dance classes, walking over 2 miles, and home workouts.
‘Sports & games’ include Team Sports, Racket Sports, Golf, Athletics, Bowls, Indoor games, and Combat sports.
‘Outdoor pursuits’ include Mountain sports (e.g. climbing or skiing), Motorsport, Fishing or angling, Horse riding, Skating or skateboarding, and Water sport (e.g. kayaking, surfing, sailing).

56% of adults (1,366,000 adults) participated in a ‘Fitness Activity’, almost one in five adults (19%) participated in ‘Sports and Games’ (477,000 adults), and 6% participated in ‘Outdoor Pursuits’ during the previous four weeks (143,000 adults).

The percentage of adults participating in ‘Fitness’ and ‘Outdoor Pursuits’ activities in the last four weeks was similar to 2022-23 (56% and 6% respectively). However, the percentage of adults who had taken part in ‘Sports and Games’ had marginally increased. In 2024-25 it was 19% whereas it was 16% in 2022-23. This equates to 65,000 more adults taking part in ‘Sports and Games’ at least once in the last 4 weeks compared to the same period two years ago.

2.2 National Frequency of Participation

During 2024-25, just over a third of adults (35%) took part in sport and physical activity three or more times a week. This equates to 868,000 adults. There were 1,586,000 adults who did not take part this often, with most taking part less than once a week (as shown in Graph 2.1).

Graph 2.1:National Frequency of Adult Participation

The percentage of adults who participated three or more times a week is four percentage points lower than it was in 2022-23. This means that 118,000 fewer adults were participating three or more times a week in 2024-25 compared to the same period two years ago.

Table 2.1 shows that the overall frequency of participation findings for Wales are driven by frequent participation in ‘Fitness Activities’. A higher percentage of adults participated in ‘Fitness Activities’, and they did so more frequently compared to ‘Sports and Games’ or ‘Outdoor Pursuits’.

Table 2.1:Frequency of participation by broad activity groups:

	Less than once a week	Once a week	Twice a week	Three or more times a week
Fitness Activities	51%	10%	7%	32%
Sports & Games	88%	6%	4%	3%
Outdoor Pursuits	98%	1%	<1%	1%
Wales Overall	48%	10%	7%	35%

Just under a third of adults (32%) took part in ‘Fitness’ activities three or more times a week during 2024-25. This equates to 787,000 adults. A much lower percentage of adults took part in ‘Sports and Games’ three or more times a week (3%), representing 66,000 adults. Lower again was the percentage of adults who took part in other ‘Outdoor Pursuits’ three or more times a week (1%; 16,000 adults).These findings illustrate the key role 'Fitness Activities' play in keeping adults regularly active.

The percentage of adults who participated in ‘Sports and Games’ and ‘Outdoor Pursuits’ three or more times a week was in line with 2022-23, however, the percentage of adults who took part in ‘Fitness’ activities three or more times a week has decreased. In 2024-25, it was 32% whereas it was 36% in 2022-23. This equates to 133,000 fewer adults taking part in ‘Fitness’ activities three or more times a week compared to the same period two years ago.

Further analysis indicates that the decline is mainly driven by fewer adults walking over two miles. In 2024-25. 38% of adults reported walking over two miles in the last 4 weeks (see Section 6), compared with 41% of adults in 2022-23. In addition, adults who participated in this activity did so less frequently over the four-week period, with a decline in those walking multiple times a week.

2.3 Level of Participation

Those who participated in sport and physical activity [1] in 2024-25 were asked to assess the maximum level of competitiveness at which they had taken part. This ranged from those who were paid to compete professionally through to those who took part solely in non-competitive activities, such as for health or leisure (Table 2.2).

Table 2.2: Level of participation

Level of participation	Percentage of Adults	Number of Adults
Competed professionally / semi-professionally	2%	14,000
Competed in amateur sport	18%	152,000
Taken part non-competitively	79%	658,000

As shown in Table 2.2, most adults who participated did so non-competitively (79%; 658,000 adults), and so participated for other reasons such as health and/or leisure. Around 18% competed at an amateur level (152,000 adults) and 2% competed at a professional or semi-professional level (14,000 adults).

A lower percentage of females participated competitively (either professionally / semi-professionally / or as an amateur) compared to males (13% and 24% respectively). In addition, despite there being slightly more females than males living in Wales, only 46,000 females competed, whereas the number of males who had competed was 116,000.

These inequalities in participation are not just limited to taking part competitively or to simply males and females. This will be highlighted in the next section.

Footnotes

Mid-year population estimates 2024
Mid-year population estimates 2024 suggest 2.64 million adults; however, not all adults ages 16+ were part of the sample frame for the National Survey for Wales. See WG technical report
Excludes activities that are not competitive (e.g., walking for 2 miles, working out from home, etc). This question was asked to 58% of adults who participated in sport (i.e, 835,000 out of 1,449,000 who participated).
Note: 1% of respondents who participated did not know
It is important to note that 42% of those who participated in sport and activity were not asked this question, due to the non-competitive nature of the activities they participated in. In turn, the actual percentage who take part non-competitively could be as high as 88% if these additional 614,000 adults were accounted for.
Mid-year population estimates (2024): Female: 1,625,100 (51%); Male: 1,561,480 (49%)

2. Active Nation: How active are adults?

2.1 National Participation

2.2 National Frequency of Participation

Graph 2.1:National Frequency of Adult Participation

Table 2.1:Frequency of participation by broad activity groups:

2.3 Level of Participation

Table 2.2: Level of participation

Footnotes

1. Introduction

2. Active Nation: How active are adults?

3. Everyone: Who's taking part?

4. Lifelong - How do adults engage with sport through life?

5. Enjoyment - What motivates adults to be active?

6. Sport: Detailed Activity Data - What sport activities do adults take part in and want to do more of?

7. Appendix