These statistics come as the Sport and Recreation Alliance is investigating the lasting legacy of the 2012 Games as part of its #TryYourKitOn campaign.
The campaign, launched on Monday 25 July, is looking at how the London 2012 has benefitted the sport and recreation sector, while also encouraging physical activity during the summer through programmes being run by its members.
Last week’s annual publication of the Taking Part findings provides detailed analysis of the year from April 2015 to March 2016. The survey has been running since 2005, and was commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), conducted in partnership with Arts Council England, Historic England (formerly English Heritage) and Sport England. It asks about child participation in cultural and sporting activities, as well as well-being, and covers children aged 5-15 years.
When looking at sports participation, the latest statistics show:
- Amongst all children (5-15 year olds), nearly 90% had taken part in sport in the four weeks prior to the interview.
- In the four weeks prior to being interviewed, 83.5% of 5-10 year olds had taken part in sport outside school, a similar proportion to 84.5% in 2008/09 and 81.1% in 2014/15. Over the same period 95.8% of 11-15 year olds took part in sport in or outside school, a similar level to 2008/09 (96.0%) and 2014/15 (94.9%).
- Amongst 5-10 year olds, a significantly higher proportion of boys than girls had taken part in sporting activities in the 4 weeks prior to being interviewed (88.3% compared to 78.6%). There was no significant difference in the proportion of boys and girls, aged 11-15 years old, who took part in sporting activities 4 weeks prior to the interview, figures were 96.0% and 95.5% respectively.
- In 2015/16, 80.7% of all children reported that they had participated in some form of competitive sport in the last 12 months. More than three quarters had taken part in competitive sport in school (76.9%), and over a third had taken part in competitive sport outside school (36.2%).
Find out more about the latest Taking Part survey here.
