Children and young people’s overall activity levels are stable as the initial recovery from the pandemic was maintained across the 2022-23 academic year.
It means 47% of children meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of taking part in an average of 60 minutes or more of sport and physical activity a day.
The figures, which we've published today in our latest Active Lives Children and Young People Survey Report, are in line with the 2018-2019 academic year, the last full year before the pandemic, and higher than in 2017-18 when we launched the survey.
Today’s findings reinforce that participation in sport and physical activity varies greatly. Significant inequalities remain in activity levels, with Black (40%) and Asian (40%) children and young people, and those from the least affluent families (44%), still less likely to play sport or be physically active than the average across all ethnicities and affluence groups. Girls (44%) are also less likely to be active than boys (51%).
The release also reveals a number of positive stories, however, including 68,000 (1.5%) more girls playing football since the Lionesses won Euro 2022. There are now 845,000 girls playing the game in England, an increase of 176,000 (4%) since the 2017-18 academic year.
There are also one million (11.5%) more children and young people walking, cycling or scootering to get places than there were five years ago (academic year 2017-18), as increases in active travel during the pandemic have been maintained since society returned to normal.
From previous research, we already know that cost-of-living concerns have impacted children and young people’s relationship with sport and physical activity.
In February, our Activity Check-in revealed that almost one in five parents/carers said they were using free activities for their children to socialise with friends instead of paid, while 12% said they'd reduced the regularity of paid activities.
And today’s report builds on these areas of concern. Children and young people from the least affluent families are the least likely to be active, with only 44% meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines – compared to 55% of those from the most affluent families.
Furthermore, the number of children doing no activity at all in the previous seven days has increased with 127,000 more children (1.4%) falling into this category compared to 2017-18, meaning there are now more than 600,000 children in England doing no activity at all.
This highlights how important it is to meet the Government’s ambitious target of getting one million more children active by the end of the decade, as well as the scale of the challenge facing the country to do so.
“While today’s figures reveal some positives and is further evidence of our sector’s ability to recover from the pandemic, they also underline how much more work there is to do to get our children and young people active.
“The fact that fewer than half are meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines demonstrates the scale of challenge facing our country.
"Too many children and young people are missing out on the benefits of living an active life – to their physical health but also mental wellbeing and positive social connection with friends and their community. We can see in the data published today: the more active the young person, the more positive their attitude towards sport and physical activity is likely to be.
“This underlines the need for more action – and greater concerted focus across Government departments, as well as across the sport and physical activity sector, and we welcome the launch of the new Physical Activity Taskforce, which meets next week, as a chance for this action to be debated.
“Whilst the overall picture is mixed, I am delighted, however, to see the continued growth in girls’ football inspired by the Lionesses and underpinned by sustained investment in recent years.
“We’re committed to building on this progress still further to ensure the beautiful game – and the health and happiness benefits it brings to millions – can truly be enjoyed by everyone.”Chief executive, Sport England
A child or young person's gender, ethnicity and age all impact how likely they are to be physically active.
Activity levels change as children get older. They are highest for those in Years 1-2, ages 5-6 (51%) and lowest for those in Years 3-4, ages 7-9 (40%).
Read moreThe proportion of children and young people classified as active has remained fairly stable over the longer-term among young people in school Years 7-8 (ages 11-13).
In contrast, there's been steady growth in activity levels among young people in school Years 9-11 (ages 13-16). Despite no reportable change compared to 12 months ago, we've seen activity levels increase by 8.6%, or 220,000 more active young people in this age group over the last five years (since academic year 2017-18).
The activities participated in also changes as children get older.
Active play (63%), team sports (58%) and active travel (58%) are the most common activities done in the last week across all children and young people.
Team sports are less common among infant age children (school Years 1-2, ages 5-7) but gain in relative importance with age.
Similarly, gym or fitness becomes more common as children get older. Conversely, going for a walk, dance or swim are all more prevalent among the youngest children (school Years 1-2, ages 5-7).
Running, athletics or multi-sports (including the active mile) are most prevalent among junior age children (school Years 3-6, ages 7-11).
Read lessBoys (51%) remain more likely to be physically active than girls (44%).
Read moreActivity levels have been stable over the last 12 months for boys and girls, with growth over the longer-term at a similar rate for both. As a result, the gender gap between boys and girls currently stands at 7%, the same as the gap recorded back in 2017-18.
However, the gender gap varies depending on age.
Infant age (school Years 1-2, ages 5-7) girls have seen no long-term growth in activity levels, whereas boys have seen an increase of 3.5% compared to academic year 2017-18. As a result, the gender gap for this age group has widened to 9% (from 6% in 2017-18).
Conversely teenage girls (school Years 9-11, ages 13-16) are seeing slightly stronger growth in activity levels over the longer-term compared to teenage boys (11% vs 9%). Despite this, the gender gap remains wide at 7%.
Read lessThe gap between activity levels among Asian and Black children and young people and those of all other backgrounds has widened over the last five years (since academic year 2017-18).
Read moreChildren and young people with White other ethnicity are now the most active group, having seen the largest increases, while those of Mixed ethnicities remain equally as likely to be active as those who are White British.
The gender gap is also wider between Asian girls and boys (11%) than it is Black (9%), and significantly more than White British (6%).
Read lessThe proportion of children and young people, both with and without a disability or long-term health condition, who are active has remained unchanged compared to 12 months ago.
Read moreBoth groups have seen growth over the last three years, but this has been slightly greater for those with a disability or long-term health condition (up 4.5% vs 2.3% for those without).
As a result, activity levels are currently slightly higher for those with (51%) as compared to those without a disability or long-term health condition (48%).
However, this varies considerably between different types and severity of disability or condition.
Read lessChildren and young people from the least affluent families are the least likely to be active, with only 44% meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines – compared to 55% of those from the most affluent families.
Read moreHowever, while all groups have seen growth over the last five years (compared to academic year 2017-18), this has been slightly greater among those from the least affluent families (up 5.5% vs 3.5% for most affluent), so the gap in activity levels between those from the most affluent and least affluent families has narrowed slightly.
Read lessThere remains a positive association between levels of engagement in sport and physical activity and levels of mental wellbeing.
Read moreMental wellbeing scores are higher for those who are active than those who are less active. On average, active children gave themselves a score of 7/10 when answering the question ‘how happy did you feel yesterday?’, while less active children only reported an average of 6.6/10.
Read lessThe more positive a child or young person feels towards sport and physical activity, the more likely they are to be physically active.
Read moreWe measure this by counting positive attitudes. A child is considered to have a positive attitude when they strongly agree to statements on their enjoyment, confidence, competence and either knowledge or understanding of physical activity.
62% of children and young people who report three or more positive attitudes are active, compared to just 33% of those who report no positive attitudes.
However, we continue to see fewer children reporting each of the positive attitudes over the longer term.
The number of children and young people reporting three or more positive attitudes varies by demographic:
The proportion of secondary age young people (school Years 7-11, ages 11-16) strongly agreeing that they feel they have the opportunity to be physically active has increased by 4.5% over the last two years, since data collection for this metric started.
This is likely to reflect recovery from the restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, which reduced opportunities to take part in some activities.
Read lessActive travel, going for a walk and gym and fitness have all seen long-term growth in participation levels.
These activities were growing prior to the pandemic and increased further while restrictions designed to combat the spread of the virus made other activities unavailable.
The gains in the number of children and young people walking, cycling or scootering to get to places (active travel) have been consolidated and, as such, there are now 11.5% or 1 million more children and young people travelling by active means than five years ago (compared to academic year 2017-18).
We see a similar picture for children and young people walking and there are 6.7%, or 592,000 more children and young people going for a walk than five years ago.
During the pandemic there was a large increase in gym and fitness activity, and this has been maintained. As a result, there are 11.8% or 908,000 more children and young people taking part than there were five years ago.
Some activities such as active play, team sport and swimming were notably hit during the pandemic.
While all have slightly fewer children and young people taking part than just before the pandemic (academic year 2018-19), all are either level or slightly above the earliest data we hold (academic year 2017-18), indicating a longer-term flat trend.
The number of secondary-age young people (school Years 7-11, ages 11-16) running or taking part in athletics and multi-sports remain down following a sharp drop in 2021-22.
This represents 7.9%, or 176,000 fewer young people taking part compared to five years ago (academic year 2017-18). In contrast, there's an underlying flat trend among primary-age children (school Years 1-6, ages 5-11).
Similarly, gymnastics, trampolining or cheerleading has dropped and remained down for secondary-age young people. As such, 4.5% or 88,000 fewer young people (in school Years 7-11, ages 11-16) are taking part compared to academic year 2017-18.
Just 71% of children in school Year 7 (ages 11-12) meet the guidelines that children should be able to competently and confidently swim 25 metres by the time they leave primary school.
This represents 6.3% fewer school Year 7 children being able to do this compared to five years ago (academic year 2017-18), before the pandemic.
The number of children in school Years 1-2 able to swim this distance is 22%. This is up 3.2% in the last 12 months but is 11% down compared to five years ago.
We believe that physical activity is central to happy and healthy lives, and positive experiences at an early age help build the foundations for an active life. That’s why children and young people are a key focus of Uniting the Movement and our core work.
Our 2022-25 implementation plan stresses the importance of creating positive experiences for children and young people that are created with opportunities designed around fun, inclusivity and safety, as well as choice.
Last month, we announced a major and unprecedented expansion of our investment into local communities across England to ensure those in greatest need are able to be physically active.
The investment builds on the learnings from our local delivery pilots and will see £250m of National Lottery and Exchequer funding invested into our place-based work, with £190m of this focused on an additional 80-100 places which have greatest need.
In September we, along with a number of our partners, launched the Physical Literacy Consensus Statement for England.
It helps us understand that our relationship with sport and activity changes over our lifetime, and how the experiences we have and our opportunities to be active impact how likely we are to take part.
Developing consensus on the term physical literacy has been a priority, as understanding what impacts people’s relationship with movement and physical activity throughout life will enable those working in the sector to ensure their offer is as appealing as possible.
This work ties in with Play Their Way, a coaching campaign we’ve invested £4m in that encourages coaches to prioritise enjoyment and listen to what children want, that launched in May.
A collaboration between 17 partner organisations, the campaign will work with England’s 2.6m coaches to build a grassroots movement aimed at increasing and improving child-first coaching in communities across the nation.
It’s hoped that by putting the child first, it will help them enjoy being active their own way and allow great coaching to inspire children into staying active for life.
We’ve also invested £1.5m into Studio You, a ‘Netflix’-style digital platform designed to help PE teachers engage the least active girls through non-traditional online activity sessions, such as dance, combat and yoga.
Launched in 2021, the platform is free to all secondary schools and almost half of them in England (56%) have signed up so far, and it’s estimated Studio You has already reached more than 150,000 teenage girls (154,156).
In addition, we’ve previously invested £13.5m into secondary teacher training, which has benefited 75% (2,600) of secondary schools, helping teachers and schools better meet the needs of all children, especially those that don’t like PE.
“Just 60 minutes of exercise a day benefits young people’s physical and mental health and leads to better educational and societal outcomes.
Read more“The latest Active Lives survey shows that there are over 400,000 more active children and young people compared to just five years ago which is encouraging but we know there is more to do.
“We will continue to roll out our unprecedented £400m investment in grassroots sport facilities, as we target our ambition to get one million more children active by 2030.”
Read less“It’s working! Today’s figures show 11.5% more children and young people are cycling, walking and scooting compared to five years ago.
Read more“That’s over one million extra self-propelled journeys, one million extra young people with transport independence and millions of extra zero-carbon trips.
“They're showing us how we can achieve government's goal, to get 3.5m more people active by 2030.
“This is the next generation, building a green transport future and embedding health into their everyday lives.”
Read lessOur chief executive Tim Hollingsworth blogs on today’s report and discusses how a united effort is required to improve physical literacy levels.
Our next Active Lives Adult Survey report will be published on Thursday 25 April, 2024.
It’ll cover the period from November 2022 to November 2023 and will give a detailed breakdown of activity levels since the end of all coronavirus restrictions.
