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TIME SPENT BY ALL PERSONS

The 2006 Time Use Survey found that, on average, Australians aged 15 years and over spent 4 hours 56 minutes (or 20.6%) of each day on free time. As the main activity, males spent 24 minutes more on free time than females.

Overall, most free time was spent on recreation and leisure (86.8% of free time or 4 hours 13 minutes per day) leaving 13.2% or 43 minutes for social and community interaction. Over half (55.3% or 2 hours 20 minutes) of recreation and leisure time was spent on audio/visual media. In comparison, 7.5% (19 minutes) of recreation and leisure time was spent on Sport and outdoor activity. Males tended to spend more time on Sport and outdoor activity than females (23 minutes compared with 16 minutes).

4.1 AVERAGE TIME SPENT ON FREE TIME ACTIVITIES, Main activities by sex, All persons(a) - 2006
		Males	Females	Persons
Purpose of activities		minutes per day	minutes per day	minutes per day
Social and community interaction
	Socialising	10	10	10
	Visiting entertainment and cultural venues	3	5	4
	Attendance at sports events	2	1	2
	Religious activities / ritual ceremonies	3	5	4
	Other	20	26	23
	Total	40	47	43
Recreation and leisure
	Sport and outdoor activity	23	16	19
	Games, hobbies, arts, crafts	9	11	10
	Reading	21	25	23
	Audio / visual media	158	123	140
	Attendance at recreational courses (excluding school and university)	-	1	1
	Talking (including phone) or writing / reading own correspondence	24	36	30
	Other	33	26	29
	Total	269	237	253
Total free time		308	284	296
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Refers to persons aged 15 years and over on a single day.
Source: How Australians Use Their Time, 2006 (cat. no. 4153.0).