Physical activity

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Last updated 10 October 2018 - see all updates

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1. Main facts and figures

  • people of Mixed ethnicity 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

  • people from the Asian ethnic group 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

  • new data has been published for the year 2016/17 and data for 2015/16 has been revised – this data isn’t currently reflected in the charts, tables and commentary on this page, but the findings for 2015/16 presented here are broadly the same despite the revision, and you can get a CSV file with the latest figures if you download the data

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.

There have been small changes to the data for 2015/16 since this page was published. You can get a CSV file with the revised figures from 2015/16 if you download the data but the overall participation patterns were largely unchanged. This CSV file also includes latest data for 2016/17.

In the data presented here, people doing 150 minutes of physical activity a week were classified as ‘fairly active’, whereas in the revised data they are classified as ‘active’. This means that the figures shown here under-reported the number of people classified as active by around 1 percentage point. Also, in the 2015/16 revised data, the figure for “all ethnic groups” now includes those with unknown ethnicity.

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.

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.

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 people aged 16 and 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 classed 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’.

MIE physical activity 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.

For measuring physical activity levels, 1 minute of vigorous activity is the equivalent of 2 minutes of moderate 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:
2015/16
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 for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity’ (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 ethnic group (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:
2015/16
Source:
Active Lives Survey
Percentage of people classed as 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 for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity and gender’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity and gender’ (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, those 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 group

Location:
England
Time period:
2015/16
Source:
Active Lives Survey
Percentage of people 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 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 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 54 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 14
Black 68 388 56 460 57 663 55 728 42 380 40 121 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 107
Mixed 74 408 72 483 70 418 65 339 54 195 53 84 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 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 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 56

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity and age group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity and age group’ (CSV)

Summary of Physical activity Physical activity levels by ethnicity and age group 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 the average for these age groups

  • in the age groups from 55 to 74, Asian and Black people were less likely to be active than the average for these age groups (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 the average for these age groups (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:
2015/16
Source:
Active Lives Survey
Percentage of people classed as physically active by ethnicity and area
All Asian Chinese Black Mixed White British White other Other
Region All % All Number of respondents Asian % Asian Number of respondents Chinese % Chinese Number of respondents Black % Black 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
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 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 49 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 30 70 51 59 8,305 66 211 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 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 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 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 for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity and area’ (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 3 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 it's not possible to draw firm conclusions about differences in physical activity between them

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

Location:
England
Time period:
2015/16
Source:
Active Lives Survey
Percentage of people 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 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 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 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 for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Physical activity levels by ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (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 4 postal mailouts designed to encourage participants to complete the survey online. A letter is sent to a household inviting up to 2 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.

Weighting:

Weighting is used to adjust the results of a survey to make them representative of the population and improve their accuracy.

For example, a survey which contains 25% women and 75% men will not accurately reflect the views of the general population, which we know has an even 50/50 split.

Statisticians rebalance or ‘weight’ the survey results to more accurately represent the general population. This helps to make them more reliable.

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

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Results are not published when they're based on fewer than 30 respondents.

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.

You can download more detailed estimates (to 1 decimal place) if you download the data.

Related publications

Sporting Future - A New Strategy for an Active Nation

Quality and methodology information

Further technical information

Active Lives Survey 2015/2016 : Technical notes to accompany the year 1 report (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF)

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 - Spreadsheet (csv) 167 KB

This file contains data for the year 2015/16. This is the data used in the charts, tables and commentary shown on this page. This file contains the following: ethnicity, activity level, geography, gender, age, socio-economic status, value, denominator, numerator, upper CI, lower CI and number of respondents

Physical activity v2 - Spreadsheet (csv) 248 KB

This file contains data for 2015/16 (revised) and 2016/17. This is the latest data available, but does not reflect the figures shown in the charts, tables and commentary on this page. This file contains the following: ethnicity, activity level, year, geography, gender, age, socio-economic status, value, denominator, numerator, upper CI, lower CI and number of respondents

Publication release date: 18 December 2017

Updated: 10 October 2018

full page history
  1. Added an extra data file containing the latest year’s data (for 2016/17) and revised data for 2015/16. No changes to charts, tables and commentary.
  2. minor corrections for style
  3. First published

From: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

This page replaces 1 older page:
  1. Physical inactivity
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