Sport England publishes latest Active Lives Adults survey

BETWEEN November 2021 and November 2022, 63.1 per cent (29.1 million) of the population met the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of doing 150 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity a week – an increase of 1.7 per cent year on year.

This means that, compared to the first Active Lives survey between November 2015 and November 2016, there are 1.5m more active adults.

The number of people classed as inactive – averaging fewer than 30 minutes a week – has fallen over the last year by 1.4 per cent to 25.8 per cent of the population (11.9m).

This remains slightly above prepandemic levels – but is in line with where they were in 2015-16.

Sport England chief executive Tim Hollingsworth said: “The pandemic

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“Alongside our investment, the monumental effort of those working across sport and physical activity, both professionals and volunteers, has played a huge part here.

“Clearly there is still much to do. The recovery has not been universal, with the report providing further evidence that some groups face more barriers to being active than others, namely women, those living in the most deprived places and Black and Asian people.

“That’s why our Uniting the Movement strategy continues to see us work with our partners to focus resources towards the people and places that need the most support to be active.”

Team sports, which were severely hit by the impact of Covid-19, have overall recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

Football (up 561,000 year on year), cricket (up 124,000), netball (up 139,000) and basketball (up 57,000) have seen an increase in participation numbers.

The gender activity gap has widened. Men’s activity levels have returned to the highs seen in November 2018-19, but women’s activity levels remain slightly below this.

Affluence and activity levels are closely linked; people living in the most deprived areas are the least likely to be active, and people in wealthier areas more likely to be active. This means inequalities that existed before the pandemic are widening.