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PARTICIPATION




CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS IN SPORTS AND PHYSICAL RECREATION

This section explores participation in sports, physical recreation and/or exercise for adults aged 18 years and over, children aged 5-14 years, and persons with a disability aged 5 years and over.

Adults aged 18 years and over

During the 12 months prior to interview in 2002, 62.4% of Australians aged 18 years and over participated in physical activities for recreation, exercise or sport. More males participated in sports and physical recreation ( 4.7 million or 65.0% of males) than females ( 4.4 million or 59.9% of females). The participation rate was higher for persons aged 18-24 (72.6%) than for any other age group, and lower for persons aged 65 and over (45.6%).

A larger proportion of persons in capital cities participated in sports and physical recreation than did persons living in other areas of Australia (63.4% compared with 60.6%). Participation rates varied among the states and territories, ranging from 59.5% in New South Wales to 76.1% in the Australian Capital Territory.

The participation rates for both Full-time and Part-time employed persons (69.5% and 67.6% respectively) were higher than that for Unemployed persons (61.3%). For persons Not in the labour force, the participation rate was particularly low at 49.6%. However, this was largely because a substantial proportion of this group were aged 65 years and over. The May 2002 Labour Force Survey found that 43.4% of persons Not in the labour force were aged 65 years and over, compared with only 16.5% of the civilian adult population (i.e. aged 18 years and over).

3.1 ADULT PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS AND PHYSICAL RECREATION(a), Characteristics of participants - 2002
			NUMBER			PARTICIPATION RATE
			Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females	Persons
			'000	'000	'000	%	%	%
Age group (years)
	18-24		751.6	630.5	1 382.1	77.6	67.4	72.6
	25-34		1 098.3	988.2	2 086.5	75.5	68.0	71.8
	35-44		994.1	915.8	1 909.9	68.1	62.2	65.1
	45-54		771.5	799.7	1 571.2	58.3	60.5	59.4
	55-64		533.2	557.4	1 090.7	56.1	59.7	57.9
	65 and over		516.0	500.0	1 016.0	50.6	41.3	45.6
State or territory
	New South Wales		1 516.4	1 398.3	2 914.7	62.5	56.6	59.5
	Victoria		1 189.7	1 117.7	2 307.4	65.9	60.2	63.0
	Queensland		849.8	804.2	1 654.1	63.4	59.0	61.2
	South Australia		326.6	327.5	654.1	58.6	56.8	57.7
	Western Australia		547.0	520.8	1 067.8	76.9	73.0	74.9
	Tasmania		106.3	101.6	207.9	63.3	57.4	60.3
	Northern Territory(b)		38.8	35.7	74.5	70.4	70.9	70.6
	Australian Capital Territory		90.1	85.8	175.9	78.9	73.4	76.1
Region
	Capital city(c)		3 122.9	2 875.6	5 998.5	67.1	59.9	63.4
	Other		1 541.8	1 516.1	3 057.9	61.2	60.1	60.6
Labour force status
	Employed
		Full-time	3 095.5	1 485.0	4 580.5	70.1	68.2	69.5
		Part-time	497.8	1 325.4	1 823.2	66.2	68.2	67.6
	Unemployed		191.7	156.4	348.0	62.1	60.3	61.3
	Not in the labour force		879.7	1 424.9	2 304.6	51.7	48.4	49.6
Total			4 664.7	4 391.6	9 056.3	65.0	59.9	62.4
(a) Relates to persons aged 18 years and over who participated in physical activities for recreation, exercise or sport as players during the 12 months prior to interview.
(b) Refers to mainly urban areas only.
(c) Excludes Canberra and Darwin.
Source: Participation in Sport and Physical Activities, Australia, 2002 (cat. no. 4177.0).

Table 3.2 shows the number of players who participated in physical recreation that was organised by a club or association (e.g. playing tennis as part of a tennis club competition). The table also shows participation in non-organised physical recreation. Examples of this include swimming at the beach with the family, walking for exercise, and playing tennis socially. Some players participated in physical recreation in both an organised and non-organised capacity. Of the 9.1 million adult participants in sports and physical recreation, a large majority (80.8% or 7.3 million) had undertaken at least some non-organised activity, while about half (50.2% or 4.6 million) had participated in some organised physical recreation.

In the 12 months prior to interview in 2002, 31.4% of the population aged 18 years and over had participated in some organised physical recreation. More males (34.3%) participated in organised physical recreation, compared to females (28.5%). The most marked difference between males and females related to those who participated in both organised and non-organised physical recreation. While 12.8% of males and 11.2% of females participated only in organised physical recreation, many more males (21.5%) participated in both organised and non-organised physical recreation, compared to females (17.3%).

3.2 ADULT PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS AND PHYSICAL RECREATION(a), Type of participation - 2002
	Organised only (A)	Non-organised only (B)	Both organised and non-organised (C)	Total organised (A + C)	Total non-organised (B + C)	Total participation (A + B + C)
NUMBER ('000)
Males	919.3	2 203.1	1 542.3	2 461.6	3 745.4	4 664.7
Females	823.0	2 302.8	1 265.8	2 088.8	3 568.6	4 391.6
Persons	1 742.3	4 505.9	2 808.2	4 550.4	7 314.0	9 056.3
PARTICIPATION RATE (%)
Males	12.8	30.7	21.5	34.3	52.2	65.0
Females	11.2	31.4	17.3	28.5	48.7	59.9
Persons	12.0	31.1	19.4	31.4	50.4	62.4
(a) Relates to persons aged 18 years and over who participated in physical activities for recreation, exercise or sport as players during the 12 months prior to interview.
Source: Participation in Sport and Physical Activities, Australia, 2002 (cat. no. 4177.0).

Children aged 5-14 years

During the 12 months ending April 2000, 1.6 million children (59.4%) participated in sport outside of school hours that had been organised by a school, club or association. The sport participation rate for boys exceeded that for girls, both overall (66.1% compared with 52.3%), and in each age category. This is consistent with the situation in the general adult population where a greater percentage of males (34.3%) participated in organised physical recreation than females (28.5%) (table 3.2).

When comparing the participation rates of children and adults, it is important to take into consideration the different scopes of the surveys from which the participation rates are sourced. Adults responding to the GSS had the opportunity to mention activities that were related to exercise or physical recreation, which is a broader scope than just organised sport. As a result, adult sports and physical recreation participation rates from the GSS include activities such as organised dancing and organised yoga, which are physical recreation activities rather than sports. The children's participation survey focussed only on organised sports. Hence, other physical recreation activities are not included in the information presented in table 3.3. and participation rates for children cannot be directly compared with those for adults.

A lower proportion of children living in capital cities participated in organised sport outside of school hours than those living elsewhere in Australia (57.3% compared with 62.3%). The sport participation rate for children varied across the states and territories, ranging from 56.1% in Queensland to 65.5% in the Northern Territory.

3.3 CHILDREN'S PARTICIPATION IN ORGANISED SPORT(a), Characteristics of participants - 2000
		NUMBER			PARTICIPATION RATE
		Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females	Persons
		'000	'000	'000	%	%	%
Age group (years)
	5-8	317.0	221.7	538.7	58.3	43.3	51.0
	9-11	314.9	234.6	549.5	74.2	59.8	67.3
	12-14	263.3	216.7	480.0	68.2	56.5	62.4
State or territory
	New South Wales	312.5	220.1	532.6	69.0	51.0	60.2
	Victoria	209.6	169.1	378.6	63.6	53.8	58.8
	Queensland	167.6	117.2	284.8	64.3	47.4	56.1
	South Australia	66.3	56.1	122.5	64.9	57.9	61.5
	Western Australia	93.3	72.6	165.8	67.2	55.3	61.4
	Tasmania	21.3	19.0	40.3	61.0	57.1	59.1
	Northern Territory(b)	9.1	7.3	16.4	69.5	61.2	65.5
	Australian Capital Territory	15.5	11.6	27.2	70.2	54.6	62.5
Region
	Capital city(c)	514.8	372.7	887.5	64.9	49.3	57.3
	Other	380.4	300.3	680.7	67.8	56.5	62.3
Total		895.2	673.0	1 568.2	66.1	52.3	59.4
(a) Relates to children aged 5-14 years who participated in organised sport outside of school hours during the 12 months ending April 2000.
(b) Comprises predominantly urban areas only.
(c) Excludes Canberra and Darwin.
Source: Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australia, April 2000 (cat. no. 4901.0).

Persons with a disability

There were 1.1 million persons (31.7%) aged 5 years and over with a disability who participated in sports or physical recreation during the 12 months prior to interview in 1998. The majority (643 700 persons or 60.1%) of these participants were male. Disability was defined as any limitation, restriction or impairment, which had lasted, or was likely to last, for at least six months and restricted everyday activities.

Overall, 37.2% of males with a disability participated in sports or physical recreation, compared with 25.9% of females. Persons with a profound core activity restriction (i.e. restriction in activities which comprise communication, mobility and self-care) had the lowest participation rate in sports or physical recreation (17.8%) of all the disability categories. The majority of persons with a profound core activity restriction had a physical condition (70.7% or 380,200 persons) as opposed to a mental or behavioural disorder (29.3% or 157,500 persons).

The proportion of persons aged 5 years and over with a disability who participated in sports or physical recreation during the 12 months prior to interview in 1998 (31.7%) was lower than that identified for the general population aged 18 years and over during the 12 months prior to interview in 2002 (62.4%). In addition to being derived from data sources which are four years apart in time, these participation rates are not directly comparable because they relate to populations spanning different age groups and with different age distributions. For example, 33.9% of persons with a disability were aged 65 years and over compared with 12.2% of the general adult population. A higher proportion of older persons in a population may result in a lower sports participation rate, since only 45.6% of persons aged 65 years and over in the general adult population had participated in sports or physical recreation during the 12 months prior to interview in 2002.

3.4 PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS OR PHYSICAL RECREATION(a), By disability status and sex - 1998
	Profound core activity restriction(b)	Severe core activity restriction(b)	Moderate core activity restriction(b)	Mild core activity restriction(b)	Schooling or employment restriction	All with specific restriction(c)	All with disability(d)
NUMBER ('000)
Males	39.8	85.0	93.3	192.8	336.6	514.8	643.7
Females	25.9	57.5	71.7	122.9	210.5	342.1	426.5
Persons	65.7	142.6	165.0	315.6	547.1	856.9	1 070.2
PARTICIPATION RATE (%)
Males	24.7	31.7	27.8	36.2	37.1	34.6	37.2
Females	12.4	19.5	22.5	24.8	28.0	23.5	25.9
Persons	17.8	25.3	25.2	30.7	32.9	29.1	31.7
(a) Refers to persons aged 5 years and over, living in households only, who participated in sports or physical recreation away from home during the 12 months prior to interview.
(b) Core activities comprise communication, mobility and self care.
(c) Total may be less than the sum of the components as persons may have both a core activity restriction and a schooling or employment restriction.
(d) Includes those who do not have a specific restriction.
Source: Disability, Ageing and Carers: Summary of Findings, Australia, 1998 (cat. no. 4430.0) and ABS data available on request.