In 2023-24, around 91.4 percent of children in England participated in a sport. This remained unchanged from the previous year's participation rate.

This statistic depicts the results of a survey about the share of the youth population who participate weekly in sports and activities in New Zealand in 2017, by ethnicity. Around ** percent of European children in New Zealand aged between 5 and 17 years old participated in sports or activities in any given week during the survey period.

The youth sports market is a big industry, ranging from organized sports leagues to recreational activities. The market for youth sports in the United States stood at **** billion U.S. dollars in 2017 and grew to **** billion U.S. dollars by 2019.

The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, which was established in September 2017, provides a world-leading approach to gathering data on how children engage with sport and physical activity. This school-based survey is the first and largest established physical activity survey with children and young people in England. It gives anyone working with children aged 5-16 key insight to help understand children's attitudes and behaviours around sport and physical activity. The results will shape and influence local decision-making as well as inform government policy on the PE and Sport Premium, Childhood Obesity Plan and other cross-departmental programmes. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables.

Due to the closure of school sites during the coronavirus pandemic, the Active Lives Children and Young People survey was adapted to allow at-home completion. This approach was retained into the academic year 2022-23 to help maximise response numbers. The at-home completion approach was actively offered for secondary school pupils, and allowed but not encouraged for primary pupils.

The adaptions involved minor questionnaire changes (e.g., to ensure the wording was appropriate for those not attending school and enabling completion at home) and communication changes. For further details on the survey changes, please see the accompanying User Guide document. Academic years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 saw a more even split of responses by term across the year, compared to 2019-20, which had a reduced proportion of summer term responses due to the disruption caused by Covid-19.

The survey identifies how participation varies across different activities and sports, by regions of England, between school types and terms, and between different demographic groups in the population. The survey measures levels of activity (active, fairly active and less active), attitudes towards sport and physical activity, swimming capability, the proportion of children and young people that volunteer in sport, sports spectating, and wellbeing measures such as happiness and life satisfaction. The questionnaire was designed to enable analysis of the findings by a broad range of variables, such as gender, family affluence and school year.

The following datasets have been provided:

1) Main dataset: this file includes responses from children and young people from school years 3 to 11, as well as responses from parents of children in years 1-2. The parents of children in years 1-2 provide behavioural answers about their child’s activity levels; they do not provide attitudinal information. Using this main dataset, full analyses can be carried out into sports and physical activity participation, levels of activity, volunteering (years 5 to 11), etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_gross - Csplan files are available for SPSS users who can utilise them).

2) Year 1-2 dataset: This file includes responses directly from children in school years 1-2, providing their attitudinal responses (e.g., whether they like playing sport and find it easy). Analysis can also be carried out into feelings towards swimming, enjoyment of being active, happiness, etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_gross - Csplan files are available for SPSS users who can utilise them).

3) Teacher dataset: This file includes responses from the teachers at schools selected for the survey. Analysis can be carried out to determine school facilities available, the length of PE lessons, whether swimming lessons are offered, etc. Since December 2023, Sport England has provided weighting for the teacher data (‘wt_teacher’ weighting variable).

For further information, please read the supporting documentation before using the datasets.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, which was established in September 2017, provides a world-leading approach to gathering data on how children engage with sport and physical activity. This school-based survey is the first and largest established physical activity survey with children and young people in England. It gives anyone working with children aged 5-16 key insight to help understand children's attitudes and behaviours around sport and physical activity. The results will shape and influence local decision-making as well as inform government policy on the PE and Sport Premium, Childhood Obesity Plan and other cross-departmental programmes. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables.

The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, 2017-2018 commenced during school academic year 2017 / 2018. It ran from autumn term 2017 to summer term 2018 and excludes school holidays. The survey identifies how participation varies across different activities and sports, by regions of England, between school types and terms, and between different demographic groups in the population. The survey measures levels of activity (active, fairly active and less active), attitudes towards sport and physical activity, swimming capability, the proportion of children and young people that volunteer in sport, sports spectating, and wellbeing measures such as happiness and life satisfaction. The questionnaire was designed to enable analysis of the findings by a broad range of variables, such as gender, family affluence and school year.

The following datasets are available:

1) Main dataset includes responses from children and young people from school years 3 to 11, as well as responses from parents of children in years 1-2. The parents of children in years 1-2 provide behavioural answers about their child's activity levels, they do not provide attitudinal information. Using this main dataset, full analyses can be carried out into sports and physical activity participation, levels of activity, volunteering (years 5 to 11), etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_set1.csplan).

2) Year 1-2 pupil dataset includes responses from children in school years 1-2 directly, providing their attitudinal responses (e.g. whether they like playing sport and find it easy). Analysis can be carried out into feelings towards swimming, enjoyment for being active, happiness etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_set1.csplan).

3) Teacher dataset includes responses from the teachers at schools selected for the survey. Analysis can be carried out into school facilities available, length of PE lessons, whether swimming lessons are offered, etc. Weighting was formerly not available, however, as Sport England have started to publish the Teacher data, from December 2023 we decide to apply weighting to the data. The Teacher dataset now includes weighting by applying the ‘wt_teacher’ weighting variable.

For further information about the variables available for analysis, and the relevant school years asked survey questions, please see the supporting documentation. Please read the documentation before using the datasets.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (January 2024), the Teacher dataset now includes a weighting variable (‘wt_teacher’). Previously, weighting was not available for these data.

Main Topics:

Topics covered in the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey include:

• Sport and physical activity participation
• Well-being
• Health

The statistic shows the share of children aged 6 to 12 who play a team sport at least one day a year in the United States from 2011 to 2017, by household income. According to the source, ** percent of kids with a household income of above 100 thousand U.S. dollars participated in a team sport at least once a year in 2017.

In the 2023-24 academic year, 40 percent of children in England participated in football. This represented little change on the previous year, which had a participation rate of 40.1 percent.

This statistic depicts the results of a survey about the leading barriers for youth to participate in sports and activities in New Zealand in 2017. During the survey period, around ** percent of youth in New Zealand stated that they were too busy to participate in sports or activities.

This statistic depicts the results of a survey about the distribution of weekly time spent participating in sports and activities by youth in New Zealand in 2017. During the survey period, around ** percent of children in New Zealand spent more than * hours per week participating in sports or activities.

In the 2023-24 academic year, around 7.8 percent of children aged between 5 and 16 had played tennis in the week prior to being surveyed. While this was a decrease from the previous year, it was still an increase over 2019-20 and 2020-21, when the figure dropped to as low as 6.3 percent. What is the most popular sport played by children? Although tennis ranks among the top ten most played sports among children in the UK, football sits top of the rankings. It was found that in 2023/24, roughly 40 percent of children in the UK played football, while running, cross-country, jogging, and the Daily Mile came in second place with a share of nearly 27 percent. How many children in the United States play tennis? As the host nation of the Grand Slam tournament, the U.S. Open, the United States has a long and illustrious history with tennis, producing legends of the game such as Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, and the Williams sisters. Accordingly, around one-third of the U.S. population claim to be tennis fans. At the school level, however, there was a smaller share of children aged six to 12 playing tennis in the U.S. in 2023 than in England, totaling 6.5 percent.

The statistic shows the share of male children aged 6 to 12 who play a team sport at least one day a year in the United States from 2011 to 2017. According to the source, **** percent of boys participated in a team sport at least once a year in 2017.

In the 2023-24 academic year, only 0.4 percent of children in England participated in golf. This remained unchanged from the previous academic year's participation rate.

Netball participation in New Zealand is generally higher among young people, with around **** percent of people aged between **** and 17 years reporting to have played the sport within the last week when surveyed in 2023. By contrast, just *** percent of adults said the same.

In the 2023-24 academic year, around seven percent of children aged between 5 and 16 had participated in cricket in the week prior to the survey. This marked a slight decline from the previous academic year, when 7.5 percent had participated.

According to a survey conducted in 2024, approximately *** thousand children in Australia participated in football or soccer in the country. The number of children participating in football or soccer grew declined compared to the previous year.