Physical activity

Published 18 December 2017

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• people from a Mixed background were more likely to be physically active over the period studied, both in comparison with the overall average, and in comparison with each of the other ethnic groups individually

• Asian people were less likely to be physically active over the period studied, in comparison with the overall average, but not in comparison with each of the other ethnic groups individually

• overall, men were more active than women

Things you need to know

Sport England’s Active Lives Survey is a ‘sample survey’: it collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach 'findings’) about the total population.

Keep in mind when making comparisons between ethnic groups that all survey estimates are subject to a degree of uncertainty, as they are based on a sample of the population. The degree of uncertainty is greater when the number of respondents is small, so it will be highest for minority ethnic groups.

The commentary for this data only refers to differences between groups where they are 'statistically significant'. Findings are statistically significant when we can be confident that they can be repeated, and are reflective of the total population rather than just the survey sample.

Specifically, the statistical tests used mean we can be confident that if we carried out the same survey on different random samples of the population, 19 times out of 20 we would get similar findings.

In some cases, charts and tables show a difference between ethnic groups, men and women, regions, or age groups, and no commentary is given. This is because it isn’t possible to say with confidence whether these differences are statistically significant.

What the data measures

This data measures levels of physical activity among adults aged 16 or over in England, and breaks this information down by ethnicity.

The data comes from Sport England’s Active Lives Survey.

People who do 150 minutes or more of moderate intensity equivalent (MIE) physical activity a week are categorised as ‘physically active’.

People who do between 30 and 149 minutes a week of MIE physical activity a week are categorised as ‘fairly active’.

People who do less than 30 minutes a week of MIE physical activity are categorised as ‘physically inactive’.

Physical activity of moderate intensity raises your heart rate and leaves you feeling a little out of breath.

Physical activity of vigorous intensity means you are breathing hard and fast and your heart rate has increased significantly.

1 vigorous minute of activity is the equivalent of 2 moderate minutes of activity.

The physical activities covered in the Active Lives survey include:

• sporting activities (team sports, racquet sports, swimming, bowls, fencing)
• fitness activities (gym session, fitness class, weights)
• cycling for sport and leisure
• cycling for travel
• walking for travel
• walking for leisure
• dance

The ethnic categories used in this data

Sports England used the following broad ethnic categories when analysing data from the Active Lives Survey:

• Asian
• Black
• Chinese
• Mixed
• White British
• White Other
• Other

2. Physical activity levels by ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/2016
• Source: Active Lives Survey

Physical activity levels by ethnicity

	Physically inactive		Fairly active		Physically active
Ethnicity	Physically inactive %	Physically inactive Number of respondents	Fairly active %	Fairly active Number of respondents	Physically active %	Physically active Number of respondents
All	25	192,623	14	192,623	61	192,623
Asian	31	7,984	15	7,984	54	7,984
Chinese	31	1,057	14	1,057	55	1,057
Black	29	2,910	16	2,910	55	2,910
Mixed	19	1,982	12	1,982	69	1,982
White British	25	167,292	14	167,292	61	167,292
White other	23	9,898	12	9,898	65	9,898
Other	30	1,500	14	1,500	56	1,500

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity Physical activity levels by ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

• overall, 61% of the population in England were physically active over the period studied – this was also the percentage of physically active White British people

• people from a Mixed background were most likely to be physically active (at 69%), followed by people from the White Other background (at 65%)

• the percentage of physically active people in the Asian, Black, Chinese and Other ethnic groups was lower than the national average and ranged from 54% to 56%

3. Physical activity levels by ethnicity and gender

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/2016
• Source: Active Lives Survey

Percentage and number of adults who were physically active by ethnicity and gender

	All		Female		Male
Ethnicity	All %	All Number of respondents	Female %	Female Number of respondents	Male %	Male Number of respondents
All	61	192,623	59	107,612	63	84,660
Asian	54	7,984	49	4,183	59	3,787
Black	55	2,910	50	1,750	61	1,149
Chinese	55	1,057	53	617	57	437
Mixed	69	1,982	68	1,207	70	771
Other	56	1,500	56	835	57	664
White British	61	167,292	59	93,117	64	73,864
White other	65	9,898	64	5,903	65	3,988

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity Physical activity levels by ethnicity and gender Summary

This data shows that:

• within the White British, Black and Asian ethnic groups, men were more active than women

• of all men, men from a Mixed background were most likely to be physically active (at 70%) and men from the Asian and Other ethnic groups least likely to be (at 57%); a small sample size for Chinese men makes results for this group less reliable

• of all women, women from a Mixed background were most likely to be physically active (at 68%) and Asian women least likely to be (at 49%)

4. Physical activity levels by ethnicity and age

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/2016
• Source: Active Lives Survey

Percentage and number of adults who were physically active by ethnicity and age

	16-24		25-34		35-44		45-54		55-64		65-74		75+
Ethnicity	16-24 %	16-24 Survey responses	25-34 %	25-34 Survey responses	35-44 %	35-44 Survey responses	45-54 %	45-54 Survey responses	55-64 %	55-64 Survey responses	65-74 %	65-74 Survey responses	75+ %	75+ Survey responses
All	76	12,744	67	23,674	65	29,805	64	33,185	57	36,653	54	36,439	32	18,797
Asian	64	1,212	53	1,800	50	2,378	53	1,185	48	681	37	455	35	219
Chinese	59	152	57	272	53	268	48	176	46	117		54		14
Black	68	388	56	460	57	663	55	728	42	380	40	121		107
Mixed	74	408	72	483	70	418	65	339	54	195	53	84		39
White British	79	9,830	70	17,691	69	22,976	65	28,962	58	34,000	54	34,739	32	17,965
White other	79	614	69	2,669	62	2,694	62	1,541	58	1,081	55	852	38	397
Other	74	140	61	299	57	408	46	254	56	199	40	134		56

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity Physical activity levels by ethnicity and age Summary

This data shows that:

• in the age groups from 16 to 54, Asian, Black and Chinese people were less likely to be active than people in these age groups overall

• in the age groups from 55 to 74, Asian and Black people were less likely to be active than people in these age groups overall (small sample sizes for Chinese people in these age groups mean results are less reliable for this ethnicity)

• in the age groups between 16 and 44, White British people were more active than people in these age groups as a whole (the results for other ethnic groups in these age groups are less reliable)

5. Physical activity levels by ethnicity and area

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/2016
• Source: Active Lives Survey

Percentage and number of adults who were physically active by ethnicity and area

	All		Asian		Chinese		Black		Mixed		White British		White other		Other
Region	All %	All Survey responses	Asian %	Asian Survey responses	Chinese %	Chinese Survey responses	Black %	Black Survey responses	Mixed %	Mixed Survey responses	White British %	White British Survey responses	White other %	White other Survey responses	Other %	Other Survey responses
England	61	192,623	54	7,984	55	1,057	55	2,910	69	1,982	61	167,292	65	9,898	56	1,500
East Midlands	60	21,913	56	828	51	85	63	205	72	174	61	19,725	63	784	60	112
East	60	25,199	55	749	58	116	54	299	70	238	60	22,222	60	1,431	57	144
London	62	18,669	54	2,365	60	319	56	1,297	72	522	66	10,782	68	2,855	55	529
North East	59	8,837	56	152		49		30	70	51	59	8,305	66	211		39
North West	60	27,469	55	973	44	153	53	253	61	219	60	24,794	67	904	48	173
South East	63	35,153	59	1,219	57	176	66	317	73	369	63	30,877	63	1,945	53	250
South West	64	21,812	61	220	63	61	53	96	61	153	64	20,438	67	764	68	80
West Midlands	58	18,791	50	1,029	60	63	48	295	70	162	59	16,535	57	604	65	103
Yorkshire	60	14,780	55	449		35	43	118	58	94	60	13,614	64	400	60	70

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity Physical activity levels by ethnicity and area Summary

This data shows that:

• people from a Mixed background were more physically active than the average in the East Midlands, East of England, London, the South East and the West Midlands

• in three regions (London, North West and West Midlands), Asian people were less likely than the average for these regions to be physically active (results for the remaining regions are less reliable)

• results for ethnic groups in other regions are less reliable and we can’t draw firm conclusions about differences in physical activity between them

6. Physical activity levels by ethnicity and socio-economic group

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/2016
• Source: Active Lives Survey

Percentage and number of adults who were 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 Survey responses	Intermediate occupations and lower supervisory %	Intermediate occupations and lower supervisory Survey responses	Routine and manual occupations %	Routine and manual occupations Survey responses	Long term unemployed %	Long term unemployed Survey responses	Full-time student or unclassified %	Full-time student or unclassified Survey responses
All	70	92,714	60	43,975	54	18,318	50	3,830	72	13,663
Asian	58	3,782	51	1,421	47	776	44	546	62	1,186
Chinese	60	578	49	188	41	77		24	59	172
Black	61	1,222	55	579	51	301	45	162	62	476
Mixed	75	987	62	350	65	178	63	75	72	337
White British	71	80,009	61	39,178	55	15,748	52	2,753	74	10,510
White other	73	5,493	62	1,979	52	1,082	50	160	76	737
Other	61	643	58	280	55	156	51	110	59	245

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity Physical activity levels by ethnicity and socio-economic group Summary

This data shows that:

• among people in managerial and professional occupations, Mixed, White British and White Other people were most likely to be active

• in managerial and professional, intermediate, and routine and manual occupations, Asian people were less active than any other ethnic group (small sample sizes for the Chinese group make these results less reliable)

7. Methodology

Active Lives is a 'push-to-web' survey which involves up to four postal mailouts designed to encourage participants to complete the survey online. A letter is sent to a household inviting up to two people per household to take part in the survey, either online or by requesting a paper version of the questionnaire.

The overall sample size is just under 200,000 people each year. The survey sample is randomly selected from the Royal Mail’s Postal Address File, which is a list of addresses in the UK that is maintained by the Royal Mail and has a very high coverage of private residential addresses.

Data has been weighted to ONS population measures for geography and key demographics.

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Any figure which is derived from a sample of 30 respondents or less has been excluded.

Rounding

Estimates in the charts and tables are given to the nearest whole number but all gaps and differences have been calculated on unrounded data. More detailed estimates to 1 decimal place are available in the download.

Further technical information

Technical notes to accompany the year 1 report (PDF opens in a new window or tab)

8. Data sources

Source

Active Lives Survey

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 - Spreadsheet (csv) 167 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, geography, gender, age, socio-economic status, value, denominator, numerator, upper CI, lower CI and number of respondents

Publication release date: 18 December 2017

full page history

1. 18 December 2017 First published

From: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

This page replaces 1 older page:

1. Physical inactivity

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