Less than a quarter of adults are hitting the recommended targets for sport and active recreation, according to Sport England’s Active People Survey.

Only 21 per cent of adults are taking part in moderate intensity activity, three times a week.

Fifty per cent of adults are not taking part in sport at all, and a further 28 per cent have only built a moderate amount of active recreation into their lives.

The £5.5m survey questioned 363,724 people above the age of 16, with at least 1,000 respondents from each of the 354 English local authorities, making it the largest study of its kind in Europe.

The figures, which do not include general physical activity undertaken such as cycling or walking to work, paint an overview of sports participation right down to local authority level.

The most popular activities are recreational walking (8.1m participants); swimming (5.6m); attending a gym (4.3m); recreational cycling (3.2m) and football (2.9m) – although surprisingly, other sports such as cricket, rugby union and netball are further down the list.

Health club-related activities proved particularly popular, with aerobics, yoga, pilates, weight training and keep fit/sit-ups all featuring in the list of top 20 activities.

Only 8 per cent of people with a disability are regular participants, although perceived racial inequalities may not be as dramatic as expected – participation among black and other ethnic minority groups is at 17.5 per cent, against 21.2 per cent in white adults.

A high degree of correlation was found between areas of social and economic deprivation and lower participation, although Mihir Warty, director of policy at Sport England, says there are exceptions. He says that the data will show where local authorities might be under- or over-performing, and that these “beacon examples” can be used to demonstrate methods of tackling participation, despite deprivation.

Sport England chair Derek Mapp adds: “The survey results complement existing tools such as our Active Places database, which allows us to analyse facilities around the country. We aim to get two million more people doing sport by 2012. It’s a huge challenge and we’re ready for it.”

Inactivity costs the UK £8.2bn each year. Some of the lowest participation rates were found in the Thames Gateway – the boroughs of Newham, Greenwich and Waltham Forest – reinforcing the need for the 2012 Olympics to leave a lasting participation legacy.