Sport England releases national Children and Young People’s Active Lives results

In December, Sport England revealed that since the Active Lives survey began, more children and young people than ever before are taking part in sport and physical activity.

The latest Active Lives Children and Young People Survey Report indicated that 580,000 more children are meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of at least 60 minutes of daily sport and physical activity, reflecting a 5.8% increase over the past seven years.

This reflects significant progress, especially considering the huge disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and is a testament to the hard work of schools, sports clubs and many organisations across the sport and physical activity sector.   

But, the results also highlighted too many are still missing out on the benefits of an active lifestyle, with less than half of all children (49.1%) meeting the CMO’s guidelines.

Simon Hayes, Chief Executive at Sport England, said: “Today’s findings are encouraging. Children’s activity levels are now the highest since the Active Lives Survey began, reflecting the positive impact that schools, clubs, community organisations, and many others are having across the country. 

“More than half a million additional children are now meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines. That is real progress and something the sport and physical activity sector can be proud of, especially after the huge disruption of the pandemic. 

“But the report also makes clear how much more we must do. It cannot be right that fewer than half of children are moving as much as recommended, and that stark inequalities mean too many amongst the poorest in our society miss out. We need a renewed national effort to change this.  

Today’s findings reinforce that participation in sport and physical activity varies widely across demographic groups.   

Significant inequalities remain in activity levels, with Black (41%) and Asian (43%) children and young people, and those from the least affluent families (45%), still less likely to play sport or be physically active than the average across all ethnicities and affluence groups.  

Girls (46%) are also less likely to be active than boys (52%), and the gender gap is widest between boys and girls from Asian (11.2%), Black (10.6%) and other (12.5%) ethnic groups. 

Children and young people from the least affluent families are the least likely to be active, with only 45% meeting the CMO guidelines, compared to 58% of those from the most affluent families.  

We have now analysed the full breakdown of local results, and presented them below.

Andy Wright, Strategic Relationship Manager for Children and Young People at Active Sussex, said: “It’s great to see a positive national picture with the highest levels of activity since 2017 and the lowest level of least active children.

“It is also really positive to see the gender gap has slightly decreased, and there has been an increase in active travel.

“However, it’s disappointing to read that almost half of young people are still missing the CMO guidelines, and that the biggest gap is for those with two or more characteristics of inequality.

“We now really look forward to seeing the Sussex data when it is released so that we can make sure we carry on moving in the right direction and can keep working hard to support the brilliant activity providers in Sussex.”

To read the full report, visit www.sportengland.org/news-and-inspiration/childrens-activity-levels-rising-inactivity-remains-too-high