1344.8.55.001 - ACT Stats, 2005  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 15/11/2004   
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Contents >> ACT Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities - Nov 2004

This article presents data from the publication Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australia, 2003 (cat. no. 4901.0). It presents information about the participation of ACT children aged 5–14 years in such activities as:

  • selected organised cultural activities and organised sports outside of school hours during the 12 months prior to April 2003
  • selected leisure activities outside of school hours during the previous two school weeks
  • computer usage by children both during and outside of school hours over the previous 12 months.

Organised Sport

In 2003, 26,700 ACT children aged 5 to 14 years of age participated in organised sport outside of school hours. This resulted in a participation rate of 63%. The ACT, along with South Australia, had the third highest participation rate of all states and territories, behind Western Australia (66%) and Victoria (65%). The national participation rate was 62%.

ACT boys had a higher participation rate at 65% compared with girls at 60%.


Selected Organised Cultural Activities

Selected cultural activities included:

  • playing a musical instrument
  • singing
  • dancing
  • drama

In 2003, there were 11,700 ACT children participating in selected cultural activities outside of school hours. This represented a participation rate of 28%. This rate was over six percentage points lower than 2000 (34%).
The national participation rate for 2003 was 30%.

In 2003, the ACT had the second lowest participation rate of all states and territories, higher only than the Northern Territory (25%). This contrasts with 2000 when the ACT had the highest participation rate of these selected cultural activities of all states and territories (34%).

In 2003, playing a musical instrument had the highest participation rate of the selected activities at 20%.

Selected Leisure Activities

Selected leisure activities included:
  • skateboarding or rollerblading
  • bike riding
  • watching TV or videos
  • playing electronic or computer games
  • art and craft
  • reading for pleasure

In 2003, the participation rate of ACT children who watched TV or video games outside of school hours was 99%. This was the highest participation rate of the selected leisure activities. Reading for pleasure had the second highest rate at 76%, followed by playing electronic or computer games at 74%.

Of the two physical activities (bike riding and skateboarding/rollerblading), the participation rate was lower in 2003 than 2000. The bike riding participation rate was 63% in 2003 compared with 73% in 2000, and skateboarding or rollerblading, 20% compared with 32% respectively.

Children's Participation in Selected Leisure Activities

Graph: Children's Participation in Selected Leisure Activities


Computer and Internet Activities

The participation rate of all ACT children using a computer and or Internet activities in 2003 was 95%. This represented a participation rate of 60% for ACT children who accessed the Internet and a participation rate of 36% who used a computer but not the Internet.

The participation rate for those accessing the Internet was lower in the ACT than all other states and territories. Tasmania had the highest participation rate of children using the Internet at 69%. For those children using a computer but not the Internet, the ACT rate was higher than all other states and territories.

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