Walking for exercise is the most popular sport or activity which Australians regularly participate in according to the latest National Sports Participation report from Roy Morgan.

Released today, the report found that nearly half of adult Australians, or 47.9%, regularly go for a vigorous stroll. This is an increase of around 800,000 participants, since 2014.

Combining data for the year to December 2017 from the Single Source survey of Australians aged 14+ and the Young Australians survey of children aged six to 13 years shows the next most popular activity is swimming with 14% of Australians six years or older swimming regularly.

Over 1.2 million Australians aged six to 13 and more than 1.9 million adults now swim.

Going to the gym/weight training is Australia’s third most popular sporting activity with over three million adult Australians regularly participating (questions on ‘walking’ and ‘gym/weight training’ were only asked of adults).

The report also found that just under 10% of Australians regularly go cycling while football is Australia’s most widely played team sport with 7.8% of Australians playing regularly.

Nearly half of children aged six to 13 regularly go swimming (47.7%) or play football (45.7%). These leading sports are followed in popularity by cycling (37.4%), basketball (33%), athletics/track & field (31.7%) and dancing (29.2%). Just under a quarter of kids play cricket regularly (23.5%) and just over a fifth play netball (21.6%) or do gymnastics (20.7%).

Commenting on the findings, Roy Morgan Chief Executive Michele Levine stated “nearly half of Australian adults regularly go walking for exercise. The activity ranks far ahead of swimming and gym/weight training as activities Australians undertake to maintain their fitness.

“In fact walking for exercise has increased in popularity over the last three years with over 9.6 million Australians now walking, up around 800,000 from 2014.

Source
Australian Leisure Management