ADULT PARTICIPATION
Characteristics of participants
During the 12 months prior to interview in 2009-10, 64% of Australians aged 15 years and over participated in physical activities for recreation, exercise or sport. Table 3.1 shows that overall, men and women had similar participation rates for sport and physical recreation (65% and 63% respectively) and that there was a general tendency for participation rates to fall with age. Over three quarters (79%) of people aged 15 to 17 years participated in sport and physical recreation, significantly higher than for people aged 65 years and over (48%).
Participation in sport and physical recreation for people living in capital cities did not differ to those who lived in other areas of Australia (both 64%). Participation rates varied among the states and territories, with the Australian Capital Territory reporting the highest participation rate of 77%.
The participation rates for full-time and part-time employed people was 69% for both while the participation rate for unemployed people was 66%. For people not in the labour force, the participation rate was particularly low at 53%. However, this was largely influenced by the fact that a substantial proportion of this group are aged 65 years and over.
3.1 Participants(a), Sport and physical recreation - Selected characteristics - 2009-10 |
|
 | | NUMBER | PARTICIPATION RATE |
| | Males | Females | Persons | Males | Females | Persons |
| | '000 | '000 | '000 | % | % | % |
|
| Age group (years) | | | | | | |
| 15-17 | 395.7 | 288.3 | 684.1 | 86.3 | 71.1 | 79.1 |
| 18-24 | 757.2 | 752.2 | 1 509.4 | 69.4 | 69.7 | 69.5 |
| 25-34 | 1 077.8 | 1 046.9 | 2 124.7 | 69.9 | 67.4 | 68.7 |
| 35-44 | 1 008.5 | 1 010.8 | 2 019.3 | 66.0 | 64.2 | 65.1 |
| 45-54 | 954.0 | 963.0 | 1 916.9 | 64.9 | 63.5 | 64.2 |
| 55-64 | 721.4 | 799.1 | 1 520.5 | 58.4 | 63.6 | 61.0 |
| 65 and over | 641.6 | 693.5 | 1 335.1 | 49.6 | 47.0 | 48.2 |
| State or territory | | | | | | |
| New South Wales | 1 803.8 | 1 781.0 | 3 584.8 | 64.2 | 61.2 | 62.7 |
| Victoria | 1 417.7 | 1 436.4 | 2 854.1 | 65.1 | 64.1 | 64.6 |
| Queensland | 1 067.9 | 1 084.1 | 2 152.0 | 62.4 | 61.8 | 62.1 |
| South Australia | 405.9 | 398.6 | 804.6 | 63.5 | 60.1 | 61.7 |
| Western Australia | 590.0 | 561.4 | 1 151.4 | 66.8 | 64.0 | 65.4 |
| Tasmania | 123.0 | 133.7 | 256.7 | 63.1 | 65.7 | 64.4 |
| Northern Territory(b) | 43.0 | 48.3 | 91.3 | 67.7 | 75.2 | 71.5 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 104.9 | 110.2 | 215.1 | 77.0 | 77.2 | 77.1 |
| Area of usual residence | | | | | | |
| State capital cities | 35 301.0 | 3 427.2 | 6 957.4 | 65.6 | 61.6 | 63.6 |
| Balance of state/territory(c) | 2 026.0 | 2 126.6 | 4 152.6 | 62.6 | 64.6 | 63.6 |
| Labour force status | | | | | | |
| Full-time | 3 485.5 | 1 892.3 | 5 377.8 | 68.5 | 70.2 | 69.1 |
| Part-time | 608.3 | 1 645.5 | 2 253.8 | 67.3 | 70.1 | 69.4 |
| Total employed | 4 093.8 | 3 537.8 | 7 631.6 | 68.3 | 70.2 | 69.2 |
| Unemployed | 209.1 | 190.1 | 399.2 | 63.0 | 70.5 | 66.4 |
| Not in labour force | 1 253.3 | 1 825.8 | 3 079.2 | 54.7 | 51.4 | 52.7 |
| Total | 5 556.2 | 5 553.8 | 11 110.0 | 64.5 | 62.7 | 63.6 |
|
| (a) Relates to persons aged 15 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. |
| (c) Includes all of ACT and NT. |
| Source: Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation, Australia, 2009-10 (cat. no. 4177.0). |
Table 3.2 shows the number of players who participated in sport or physical recreation organised by a club or association (e.g. playing tennis as part of a tennis club competition) and participation in non-organised activity. Examples of this include swimming at the beach with the family, walking for exercise and playing tennis socially. Some players participated in both organised and non-organised activity. Of the 11.1 million participants in sport and physical recreation, a majority (52% or 9.1 million) had undertaken at least some non-organised activity, while about half (26% or 4.5 million) had participated in some activity which was organised.
In the 12 months prior to interview in 2009-10, 26% of the population aged 15 years and over had participated in some organised sport or physical recreation. The participation rate was similar for men (28%) and women (24%). There were also similar proportions of men and women participating in some non-organised activity (52% for both).
3.2 Participants in Sport and physical recreation(a), Type of participation - By sex - 2009-10 |
|
| Organised only | Non-organised only | Both organised and non-organised | Total organised | Total non-organised | Total participants(b) |
NUMBER ('000) |
|
| Males | 1 048.8 | 3 132.6 | 1 363.9 | 2 412.7 | 4 496.5 | 5 556.2 |
| Females | 918.3 | 3 403.9 | 1 218.3 | 2 136.6 | 4 622.2 | 5 553.8 |
| Persons | 1 967.0 | 6 536.5 | 2 582.2 | 4 549.3 | 9 118.8 | 11 110.0 |
PARTICIPATION RATE (%) |
|
| Males | 12.2 | 36.4 | 15.8 | 28.0 | 52.2 | 64.5 |
| Females | 10.4 | 38.4 | 13.8 | 24.1 | 52.2 | 62.7 |
| Persons | 11.3 | 37.4 | 14.8 | 26.0 | 52.2 | 63.6 |
|
| (a) Relates to persons aged 15 years and over who participated in physical activities for recreation, exercise or sport as players during the 12 months prior to interview. |
| (b) Includes participants who answered "don't know". |
| Source: Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation, Australia, 2009-10 (cat. no. 4177.0) |
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