Physical activity

Published

1. Main facts and figures

  • in the year to November 2022, 63.1% of people in England aged 16 and over were ‘physically active’ – they did 150 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity a week

  • people from mixed ethnic backgrounds were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to be physically active – this has remained consistent for the last 7 years

  • people from the Asian, black, and ‘other’ ethnic groups were less likely to be physically active than the national average

  • men were more likely to be active than women in the Asian, black, white British, and ‘other’ ethnic groups

Further research:

Research from the Bristol Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing in 2019 reviewed studies about the barriers and facilitators among black and minority ethnic groups in the UK. It identified poor work-life balance as a barrier. For example, South Asian men worked extra hours to support their family, so had less time to take part in physical activity.

The financial costs associated with some physical activities may also act as a barrier. In addition, language barriers can discourage a person from taking part in physical activity in public, and there may be a lack of knowledge and understanding about the benefits of exercise.

The research also identified some barriers to physical activity specific to women from ethnic minority groups. For example, because of cultural expectations that South Asian women are homemakers, these women felt that their lifestyle meant that they were already physically active, or that pursuing physical activity would be a hindrance to this role. Also, people from some ethnic groups perceived certain forms of exercise as culturally inappropriate, and which could endanger modesty.

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data measures levels of physical activity for people aged 16 and over in England, by ethnicity.

Moderate activity is activity which raises your breathing rate. Vigorous activity is where you are out of breath or sweating. When measuring physical activity levels, 1 minute of vigorous activity is the equivalent of 2 minutes of moderate activity.

Data is recorded for 3 groups:

  • physically active – people who do 150 minutes or more a week
  • fairly active – people who do between 30 and 149 minutes a week
  • physically inactive – people who do less than 30 minutes a week

The physical activities covered in the survey include:

  • sporting activities – like team sports, running, racquet sports, swimming, and bowls
  • fitness activities – like gym sessions, fitness classes, weights
  • cycling for sport, leisure, or travel
  • walking for leisure or travel
  • dance

Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Not included in the data

Data based on fewer than 30 respondents is not included. This is because the numbers involved are too small to make reliable generalisations.

The ethnicity categories used in this data

Data is shown for 7 ethnic groups:

  • Asian
  • black
  • Chinese
  • mixed
  • white British
  • white other
  • other

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.

The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:

In the data file

See Download the data for:

3. By ethnicity over time

Location:
England
Time period:
November 2015 to November 2022
Source:
Active Lives Survey
Percentage of people aged 16 years and over who were physically active, by ethnicity over time
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Ethnicity 2016 % 2016 Number of Respondents 2017 % 2017 Number of Respondents 2018 % 2018 Number of Respondents 2019 % 2019 Number of Respondents 2020 % 2020 Number of Respondents 2021 % 2021 Number of Respondents 2022 % 2022 Number of Respondents
All 62.1 198,911 61.8 196,635 62.7 179,747 63.3 181,535 61.4 177,735 61.4 177,273 63.1 177,551
Asian 55.6 7,984 54.0 8,240 56.3 6,719 53.9 7,304 49.5 7,824 50.4 8,201 55.0 9,067
Black 56.6 2,910 55.4 2,996 56.6 2,494 57.7 2,524 53.3 2,664 55.1 2,792 56.1 3,159
Chinese 56.1 1,057 56.3 1,061 64.4 891 61.0 983 56.7 1,034 57.8 1,221 60.4 1,349
Mixed 70.8 1,982 71.3 2,078 72.3 2,002 67.5 2,159 67.9 2,179 68.0 2,359 70.8 2,490
White British 62.8 167,292 62.9 163,434 63.6 149,985 64.6 151,336 63.1 147,260 62.7 146,284 64.4 144,097
White other 65.8 9,898 65.3 10,189 66.8 9,671 65.3 9,654 63.4 9,580 65.0 10,054 66.8 10,092
Other 56.8 1,500 56.6 1,475 56.4 1,275 60.9 1,312 53.3 1,418 53.0 1,458 54.7 1,516

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity By ethnicity over time Summary

The data shows that:

  • in the year to November 2022, 63.1% of people aged 16 and over in England were physically active

  • people from mixed ethnic backgrounds (70.8%) were the most likely to be physically active out of all ethnic groups, followed by people from the white ‘other’ ethnic group (66.8%) – this has remained consistent for the last 7 years

  • in the 7 years to November 2022, the percentages of physically active people in the Asian, black, and ‘other’ ethnic groups were consistently lower than the national average

4. By ethnicity and gender

Location:
England
Time period:
November 2021 to November 2022
Source:
Active Lives Survey
Percentage of people aged 16 years and over classed as ‘physically active’, by ethnicity and gender
Female Male Other gender
Ethnicity Female % Female Number of Respondents Male % Male Number of Respondents Other gender % Other gender Number of Respondents
All 60.8 98,341 65.6 78,112 59.5 841
Asian 49.7 4,761 59.6 4,259 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Black 50.7 1,808 61.9 1,327 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Chinese 57.8 776 63.1 565 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Mixed 69.6 1,491 72.5 957 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
White British 62.2 79,839 66.9 63,710 65.4 394
White other 65.9 6,014 67.6 4,003 78.0 70
Other 49.4 800 60.0 700 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and gender’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and gender’ (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity By ethnicity and gender Summary

The data shows that, in the year to November 2022:

  • 65.6% of men and 60.8% of women were physically active – 841 people identified as another gender, and of those 59.5% were physically active

  • in the white British, black, Asian, and ‘other’ ethnic groups, men were more likely to be physically active than women – sample sizes were too small to make reliable generalisations in other ethnic groups

  • men from the mixed (72.5%) and white British (66.9%) ethnic groups were more likely to be physically active than the overall average for men (65.6%) – men from the Asian (59.6%) and ‘other’ (60.0%) ethnic groups were less likely to be active

  • women from mixed (69.6%), white British (62.2%) and white other (65.9%) ethnic groups were more likely to be physically active than the overall average for women (60.8%) – women from Asian (49.7%), black (50.7%) and ‘other’ (49.4%) ethnic groups were less likely to be active

5. By ethnicity and age group

Location:
England
Time period:
November 2021 to November 2022
Source:
Active Lives Survey
Percentage of people aged 16 years and over classed as ‘physically active’, by ethnicity and age group
16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+
Ethnicity 16-24 % 16-24 Number of Respondents 25-34 % 25-34 Number of Respondents 35-44 % 35-44 Number of Respondents 45-54 % 45-54 Number of Respondents 55-64 % 55-64 Number of Respondents 65-74 % 65-74 Number of Respondents 75+ % 75+ Number of Respondents
All 72.8 11,027 67.0 23,549 65.3 27,421 66.5 28,069 63.0 33,487 60.7 32,482 41.2 20,333
Asian 64.0 1,283 55.8 1,903 52.7 2,643 50.4 1,630 51.2 782 47.8 562 34.7 230
Black 66.1 402 53.8 588 53.5 737 55.2 550 54.6 566 46.3 186 43.3 91
Chinese 64.9 159 60.9 318 58.1 370 61.9 234 58.7 156 54.3 83 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
Mixed 74.9 498 72.7 668 68.9 572 68.0 359 67.4 258 45.4 100 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
White British 76.6 7,241 70.4 16,636 69.6 18,861 69.8 22,211 63.8 29,525 61.3 29,876 41.4 19,033
White other 76.8 672 68.3 2,183 66.2 2,780 64.6 1,859 66.6 1,237 63.9 888 43.7 444
Other 57.7 171 64.3 270 51.3 321 46.9 286 56.7 203 56.1 182 41.8 77

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity By ethnicity and age group Summary

The data for the year ending November 2022 shows that:

  • people became less physically active the older they were – 72.8% of people aged 16 to 24 were physically active, compared with 41.2% of people aged 75 years and over

  • white British people had the biggest difference in physical activity levels between age groups – 76.6% of 16 to 24 year olds were physically active, compared with 41.4% of people aged 75 and over

  • in all age groups between 16 and 54 years old, white British people were more likely than average to be physically active – the number of people in the mixed ethnic group in these age groups was too small to make reliable generalisations

  • in all age groups between 16 and 74 years old, people from the Asian and black ethnic groups were less likely than average to be physically active – the number of people aged 75 and over was too small to make reliable generalisations

6. By ethnicity and area

Location:
England
Time period:
November 2021 to November 2022
Source:
Active Lives Survey
Percentage of people aged 16 years and over classed as ‘physically active’, by ethnicity and area
All Asian Black Chinese Mixed White British White other Other
Geography All % All Number of Respondents Asian % Asian Number of Respondents Black % Black Number of Respondents Chinese % Chinese Number of Respondents Mixed % Mixed Number of Respondents White British % White British Number of Respondents White other % White other Number of Respondents Other % Other Number of Respondents
East 63.1 22,533 55.9 850 60.8 364 64.3 149 73.0 325 63.5 18,665 65.7 1,382 55.8 158
East Midlands 61.1 19,268 51.0 829 59.8 306 54.1 81 71.9 225 61.9 16,400 65.5 787 40.7 96
London 64.2 16,382 57.7 2,337 54.2 1,040 61.7 362 71.2 534 69.9 7,918 69.4 2,565 57.3 462
North East 60.9 7,560 61.3 221 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 62.0 75 61.3 6,704 64.0 203 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable
North West 61.3 27,111 48.3 1,397 53.1 397 67.4 209 71.4 297 62.7 22,702 65.8 1,063 53.0 210
South East 66.5 32,283 60.2 1,261 57.0 345 56.4 249 73.8 462 67.3 26,887 67.6 1,965 61.2 231
South West 67.1 16,366 62.5 253 66.6 94 55.5 64 78.3 151 67.4 14,569 69.0 761 62.1 70
West Midlands 58.0 19,066 50.3 1,418 54.1 385 59.3 100 62.6 259 60.1 15,257 57.6 825 47.6 152
Yorkshire and the Humber 62.0 16,982 51.6 501 65.4 161 58.9 76 64.5 162 63.4 14,995 62.7 541 39.6 90

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity By ethnicity and area Summary

The data shows that, in the year to November 2022:

  • rates of physical activity were higher than the national average in the South West (67.1%) and the South East (66.5%) – they were lower than the national average in the West Midlands (58.0%), East Midlands (61.1%), North East (60.9%) and North West (61.3%)

  • people from mixed ethnic backgrounds were more likely to be physically active in the East Midlands, East of England, London, South East and North West than the average for each region

  • people from the Asian ethnic group were less likely than average to be physically active in all regions except for the North East and South West – sample sizes for these regions were too small to make reliable conclusions

7. By ethnicity and socio-economic group

Location:
England
Time period:
November 2021 to November 2022
Source:
Active Lives Survey
Percentage of people aged 16 years and over classed as ‘physically active’, by ethnicity and socio-economic group
Managerial and professional occupations Intermediate occupations and lower supervisory Routine and manual occupations Long term unemployed Full-time student or unclassified
Ethnicity Managerial and professional occupations % Managerial and professional occupations Number of Respondents Intermediate occupations and lower supervisory % Intermediate occupations and lower supervisory Number of Respondents Routine and manual occupations % Routine and manual occupations Number of Respondents Long term unemployed % Long term unemployed Number of Respondents Full-time student or unclassified % Full-time student or unclassified Number of Respondents
All 72.6 86,992 62.2 37,420 55.2 16,039 44.9 4,027 68.1 12,740
Asian 59.7 4,697 51.6 1,460 47.0 861 41.7 594 62.4 1,225
Black 60.3 1,550 54.2 532 51.3 299 45.7 174 59.0 513
Chinese 65.0 779 53.1 220 50.6 118 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 62.7 176
Mixed 73.5 1,400 67.0 417 65.6 197 55.0 99 75.8 350
White British 74.7 69,699 63.6 31,774 57.1 12,907 45.1 2,561 71.9 8,123
White other 73.9 5,783 64.1 1,877 50.1 1,049 54.6 179 75.6 760
Other 62.5 767 46.2 231 41.1 147 54.6 95 59.4 199

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity By ethnicity and socio-economic group Summary

The data shows that, in the year to November 2022:

  • rates of physical activity were highest for people in managerial and professional occupations (72.6%) and the student or unclassified group (68.1%) – they were lowest for long-term unemployed people (44.9%)

  • in managerial and professional occupations, white British people (74.7%) were more likely than average to be physically active

  • people from Asian ethnic backgrounds were less likely to be physically active than the average for every socio-economic group except the long-term unemployed group – sample sizes for this group were too small to make reliable conclusions

  • black people were less likely to be physically active than the average for managerial and professional occupations, intermediate, lower supervisory and technical occupations, and for the student or unclassified group

8. Data sources

Source

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

Official statistics

Publisher

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The Active Lives Survey measures the number of people aged 16 and over who take part in sport and physical activity.

This data informs the government’s strategy on physical activity, Sporting Future, which looks at 5 aspects of physical activity:

  • physical well-being
  • mental well-being
  • individual development
  • social and community development
  • economic development

The Active Lives Adults survey has previously been published twice a year:

  • in April, covering the full year from November to November
  • in October, covering covered the mid-year May to May period

Following an external consultation in early 2022, results are now only being published annually each April.

9. Download the data

Physical activity 2015 to 2022 - Spreadsheet (csv) 766 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, geography, geography_type, geography_code, gender, age, ns_sec, value, value_type, denominator, numerator, upper_95_c_i, lower_95_c_i, standard_error, sample_size

Publication release date: 9 January 2024

full page history
  1. Updated with data for November 2021 to November 2022

From: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Previous editions:
  1. Edition published on 14 July 2022
  2. Edition published on 12 October 2020
  3. Edition published on 27 April 2020
  4. Edition published on 10 October 2018
This page replaces 1 older page:
  1. Physical inactivity
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