Active Lives Survey 2018 results released

The second Sport England Active Lives survey has been published today and shows an increase in the overall number of people in England being active.

Based on a sample of almost 200,000 respondents, the survey shows that 61.8 per cent of people over the age of 16 in England are enjoying the many health and wellbeing benefits that come with regular activity, such as swimming.

The statistics also showed that more people are choosing to get active outside and by combining their daily commute with walking and cycling.

Jane Nickerson, Swim England CEO, said: “It is interesting to see from the figures that participation in a number of organised and Olympic sports, including swimming, has decreased during this reporting period.

“This may well be a result of a high following the Rio effect in 2016 and shows the importance of maintaining visibility of these sports throughout the year.

“With the Commonwealth Games just over a week away, we are looking forward to seeing our athletes inspire children and families to the pool.”

Outdoor swimming continues to grow in popularity

Despite some figures falling, outdoor activities, the number of older people taking part in regular activity, and younger people taking up interval training sessions has increased.

“Outdoor swimming continues to be an area that is growing in popularity, and the swimming pool has always been an incredibly supportive environment for people of all ages and abilities”, said Nickerson.

“In addition, high intensity interval training sessions continue to be popular within our group swim sessions and our Just Swim members, and we have seen our 16+ memberships grow 25 per cent over the last year.

“It is also important to remember that Active Lives relates to over 16’s only. One-third of all 11-15-year-olds are swimming weekly and these are the adult swimmers of tomorrow.

“This will not only help to embed the swimming habit throughout society, but allows people to take part in all the other water-based activities that hundreds of thousands of people also enjoy.”

• Read the Active Lives report