Physical participation figures are the highest ever, but inequalities remain with the same groups still losing out, according to the new Active Lives Adult Survey Report 2023-2024.

Sport England’s latest annual survey which covers November 2023 to November 2024, show more people are getting active. In England, 63.7 per cent of the adult population – 30 million adults – met the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of doing at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a week. This is an increase of 1.6 per cent – or 2.4 million since 2016, up from 63.4 per cent in 2022-2023.

Notable gains were made among those living with disabilities and long-term health conditions and older people, over the age of 55.

It was good news for the health and fitness industry as there has been strong growth in people taking part in gym and fitness activities: from 13.2 million in 2016-2017, via a dip during the pandemic, to 14.2 million.

The number of inactive adults is also down by almost half a million to 477,000.

There is still more work to do, as inequalities remain. Only 43.7 per cent of adults with two or more characteristics of inequality meet the Chief Medical Officers guidelines of 150 minutes a week, compared with 61.9 per cent with one characteristic and 74.3 per cent with none.

However, it’s encouraging that the proportion of those with two or more characteristics of inequality who find sport or exercise satisfying has increased by 3.5 per cent in the last 12 months.

The survey found 68.9 per cent of people living in the least deprived areas are active, compared with 55.5 per cent in the most deprived. While those living in the most affluent areas have seen a 1.6 per cent increase in participation, those in the least affluent locations have seen a 2.5 per cent decrease.

HCM caught up with Nick Pontefract, Sport England’s chief strategy officer, to get more insights.

Nick, how do you feel about these results?

It’s really positive. The headline figure is that there are more adults active in England than at any point since our survey began back in 2015. After nearly a decade of field work we're at the highest point ever, which is great news.

We've added 2.4 million active adults and taken out nearly half a million inactive adults.

Obviously, beneath the surface, there are some things that are doing less well, but at a headline level, it's hard to be anything but pleased that the nation is more active than it has been at any point, certainly in the last decade since we started counting.

What do you attribute this to? Is it the hard work from the physical activity and sports sectors? Are consumers taking more responsibility for their health?

We're definitely seeing the fruits of our Uniting the Movement strategy, launched in 2020 and the drive to tailor sport more for what people want and broadening the people that we cater to.

There are societal trends happening as well. Quite a lot of growth has come from older people, which is hugely positive and a reflection of our focus on older people. People are also becoming more conscious about staying healthy and active to live longer, happier and more fulfilling lives. It all seems to be starting to work well together.

There was a big increase in people using fitness facilities, what more can gym operators do to capitalise on that trend?

I think this is a reflection of a job well done. It's really positive news for a sector that has been through an awful lot over recent years and has done a tremendous job in coming through.

This also shows how well the gym offer has been tailored and adapted to what people want and need. It's such a consumer-led part of the market that you can't survive if you don't pay attention to what consumers want.

While there are still lots of pressures on parts of the sector, I hope operators can look on this positively and see a continued growth in interest in gyms and fitness facilities. There's obviously a positive trend towards that type of product.

Is there still more to do around inclusivity?

Those groups who are less active are the ones that think that sport and physical activity is less inclusive, so yes, there definitely is. Sport England is unapologetic about that being our mission. We were really open about it when we wrote Uniting the Movement, in 2020, saying we wanted to disproportionately focus on those people that needed the most help and have traditionally been less well served than other groups.

It’s a long term journey but we're starting to see some positives. Older people are much more active than they were when the survey started. Participation levels among people with disabilities and long term health conditions are up. When we look at inequalities as a whole, the gap is narrowing. However, until that gap is eliminated, we're not going to rest, because that's our mission.

There’s a 2.5 per cent decrease in activity among those from the most deprived areas, but data from Moving Communities showed a 9 per cent increase across populations in the lower Index of Multiple Deprivation areas. Even though they had the lowest participation numbers, that group were showing the fastest growing increase.

Moving Communities doesn't capture the totality of activity. What that might be reflecting is that those facilities and operators using the Moving Communities platform might well have done a really good job of reaching out to that population, but that's not necessarily the case when it comes to the really broad spectrum of activity that we look at for Active Lives.

Does that suggest that leisure facilities are doing better when it comes to engaging those groups than the broader physical activity and sports industry?

I wouldn't leap that far without doing a proper deep dive into some comparable data, but the growth in gym and fitness is really positive. It's coming from a sector that has worked incredibly hard to become as relevant as they can and to grow participation, particularly from groups that haven't necessarily done it before. It certainly feels like a job well done, albeit with plenty more to do.

Participation in team sports has recovered, to what do you attribute that?

The recovery from the pandemic has taken a long time and people who did team sports before the pandemic couldn't be guaranteed to come back post-pandemic. However, team sports have done a fantastic job of adapting their offer to reach new and different audiences.

A great example is the continued growth of women's football. Five or 10 years ago, it did not feel as easy and welcoming and comfortable for women to play some form of semi-competitive football, now it feels a very natural and common thing.

Women's running is on the up as well. Any thoughts on why?

Running has always been an important part of the make-up. There’s a trend element and it has a social side. There’s also super cool running equipment available now and all that stuff builds momentum and encourages more people to take part.

Why has active travel gone down?

We're digging into it now to find out why – whether it’s something like shopping online cutting out walks to the shops, or being pushed for time and hopping in the car – we don’t know yet so we’ll be doing a deeper dive.

Muscle strengthening activity was flat, is there more education needed?

Muscle strengthening is a new addition to the CMO guidelines, so it's only really just starting to be understood by the end users. I think lots of people will have a reasonable understanding of what's a good level of physical activity by now, but only because we've been working at it for a decade. We probably need a bit more time for the concept of muscle strengthening activity to take root and be effectively communicated to people that it's not enough anymore to just focus on cardiovascular health and that muscle strengthening needs to be in the mix of activity. We're still in an early stage of that, but we want to try and accelerate it.

How will you use this data for lobbying?

While the job is not complete, this is evidence of a job well done by a sector that is under lots of scrutiny from the government and has a really important part to play in its agenda.

We know the impact that sport and physical activity can have on the health agenda and on economic growth, so the fact that more people are active, not less, is brilliant. And there could be even more.

A quarter of the country are still inactive and the more of those we can move into the active column saves the government money, drives economic growth and improves wellbeing. This report, plus all the social value economic impact reports we've done over the last six months, are a big part of how we will be advocating for the sector.

We believe the sector has never been more needed, and we're doing a good job, so we will be asking the government to support us to do even more of that in the future.

COMMENT FROM THE INDUSTRY

Huw Edwards, CEO of ukactive, says: “For the second year running, fitness activities continue to drive activity levels and, when combined with swimming figures, means that gyms, pools and leisure centres provide the biggest source of activity other than walking.

“The upcoming Spending Review represents a clear opportunity for the government to recognise our sector's potential and put in place the measures to capitalise on consumer demand, reduce our barriers to growth and turbocharge physical activity levels. Doing so would ensure the physical activity sector is a solution to help transform our nation’s health and economic growth.”

Andy Taylor, CEO of the Active Partnerships National Organisation, said: “It is positive news that the number of physically active adults is now the highest on record. However, we know that stubborn and significant inequalities still exist.

“Movement, physical activity and sport boosts our health and economic growth, as preventing and helping to manage illness reduces pressure on the NHS and a more active population, leads to a more productive workforce. It is therefore crucial that the sport and physical activity sector is effectively supported and properly funded.”

Lisa Wainwright MBE, CEO of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, said: “Building on this latest set of figures, we need an urgent and ambitious strategic plan from the government to harness the power of the sport and recreation sector, including our members who are already doing fantastic work driving up participation across the country.

“This can only be achieved with a strong commitment from the heart of government to invest more in our sector. In the upcoming Spending Review, the government has a vital opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the sector and the role it can, and must, play in getting people active while forging a more prosperous and healthier nation.”

Tara Dillon, CEO of CIMSPA said: “It’s encouraging to see that adults’ overall activity levels are the highest on record. Tackling inequalities amongst our communities unfortunately continues to be an ongoing challenge and there is more work to be done, but we are dedicated to addressing it – our local skills work is vital to this challenge with bespoke local skills plans to support the workforce in meeting the needs of their respective communities.

“This report shows that the sport and physical activity sector plays an important role in our daily lives, and it's imperative that this government recognises the contribution that our sector and its workforce make to the success of our society.”

THE BREAKDOWNOne quarter of the adult population –11.8 million – are doing less than 30 minutes of activity a week.

A further 11.2 per cent – 5.3 million – do between 30 and 149 minutes on average each week.

The number of older adults, over 55, meeting the guidelines has increased from 51 per cent to 58 per cent, which represents 2.5 million more people. This is part of a long-term increase of 6.4 per cent since 2015/16.

Some 470,000 more people living with a disability or long-term health condition are also meeting the guidelines, an increase of 4 per cent to 48 per cent.

At 3.4 million team sports are not far behind the highs of eight years ago (3.5 million).

Swimming has stabilised at 4.2 million, the same as the 2022-23, but is down by 0.7 million on 2015/16 figures. It's not clear how much this has been impacted by pool closures due to the energy crisis.

There were reported improvements in enjoyment levels among older adults, those living with disability or a long-term condition and those living in the most deprived areas

Inequalities persist. While all other ethnic groups have seen some increases in activity, only 56 per cent of Black people are active, compared with 57 per cent eight years ago. It’s a similar story with the Asian population (excluding Chinese) with 55 per cent being active now, compared with 56 per cent in 2016.

Women still have lower participation levels than men (61.4 per cent and 66.3 per cent respectively).

Across the country the regional divide in activity levels is increasing with more long term growth coming from those areas which already have higher activity levels.

At 67 per cent, the South West has one of the most active populations (London is 65 per cent) despite it incorporating Cornwall, one of the poorest areas of the UK.

Mole Valley in the South East has the best participation rates at 78 per cent and Blackpool the least at 46 per cent.

There is a big difference in participation levels between those with and without a disability or long-term condition – 44.1 per cent, compared with 68.8 per cent.

Those with characteristics of inequality are also less likely to say they feel included.

Walking is higher than eight years ago, but has dropped slightly compared with the last report.

Active travel numbers have fallen back slightly compared to 2022-23 and are now more in line with eight years ago.

Cycling has fallen to the lowest number recorded in seven years – down 0.3 million to 5.8 million.

Running is on an upward trend from 12 months ago – up 0.3 million to 6.5 million, with women driving the resurgence.

Forty four per cent, or 20.6 million, met the CMO’s target of two muscle strengthening sessions per week.

You can download the report here