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TIME SPENT BY PARTICIPANTS

While 99.1% of Australians aged 15 years and over had participated in Recreation and leisure activity in their free time, only 27.1% had participated in Sport and outdoor activity. More males (29.8%) participated in Sport and outdoor activity than females (24.5%).

Table 4.2 shows the average time that participants spent on selected free time activities. The Time Use Survey results relate to the number of persons participating in activities on a single day and are derived from data that take into account all days of the week and all seasons of the year. Other surveys, cited in Chapter 3, ask about participation in sports and physical recreation during a 12 month period, and hence those participation rates tend to be higher.

According to the Time Use Survey, participants who spent time on Sport and outdoor activity did so for 1 hour 43 minutes per day on average. This accounted for 20.4% of time spent on Recreation and leisure.

4.2 AVERAGE TIME SPENT ON FREE TIME ACTIVITIES, All activities by sex - Participants(a) - 1997
		Males	Females	Persons
Purpose of activities		minutes per day	minutes per day	minutes per day
Social and community interaction		98	90	94
	Socialising	118	96	106
	Visiting entertainment and cultural venues	129	114	120
	Attendance at sports events	164	133	150
	Religious activities/ritual ceremonies	103	85	92
Recreation and leisure		508	502	505
	Sport and outdoor activity	117	87	103
	Games/hobbies/arts/crafts	107	103	105
	Reading	79	73	76
	Audio/visual media	277	265	271
	Attendance at recreational courses	150	105	123
	Talking (incl. phone)	157	167	162
(a) Refers to persons aged 15 years and over on a single day.
Source: Time Use on Culture/Leisure Activities, 1997 (cat. no. 4173.0).

In 1997, participants spent an average of 2 hours 27 minutes per day on formal sport - organised sport undertaken with a club or as a competition, or with a commitment to skill development, including practice and training. In comparison, participants spent an average of 2 hours 3 minutes each day on informal sport - sport undertaken for recreation or socialising rather than with the commitment needed for competitive sport.

4.3 AVERAGE TIME SPENT ON SPORT AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES, All activities by sex - Participants(a) - 1997
	Males	Females	Persons
	minutes per day	minutes per day	minutes per day
Sport formal	155	129	147
Sport informal	131	104	123
Exercise	64	55	60
Walking	61	53	57
Hiking	93	66	79
Fishing	249	196	239
Holiday travel, driving for pleasure	151	148	150
(a) Refers to persons aged 15 years and over on a single day.
Source: Time Use on Culture/Leisure Activities, 1997 (cat. no. 4173.0).