Nearly one in two Europeans are not doing any physical exercise, and the proportion has increased gradually in recent years, a new survey released by the European Commission has found. The Eurobarometer survey 2017 interviewed some 28,031 citizens from different social and demographic categories, face-to-face at home and in their native language. Similar surveys had been conducted in 2009 and 20013, where the figures were a little better.
In the latest survey, some 46 percent of respondents said that they never play sports or do any physical exercise, and this figure has risen by 4 percentage points since the last survey in 2013, following a trend that has been intensifying since 2009. In addition, more than one in eight EU citizens does not even walk for at least ten minutes a day.
Two in five Europeans exercise or play sport at least once a week, and 7 percent do so regularly, at least five times per week. About 44 percent of the respondents said they do some other types of physical activity - such as cycling, dancing or gardening - at least once a week, while 35 percent never do this kind of activities. Most respondents spend an hour or less doing moderate physical activity (63 percent), while 34 percent spend more than one hour doing it.
The main motivations given by Europeans to exercise are improved health (54 percent) and fitness (47 percent). A lack of time is by far the main reason given for not practicing sports more regularly (40 percent).
In Italy, 62 percent of the surveyed said they never exercise or play sports, up by 2 percentage points from 2013. One percent said they do it regularly, down by 2 percentage points, while 27 percent practice with some regularity and 10 percent do it occasionally, much as in 2013.
In Spain and France, 46 percent of the people never exercise or play sports, up by 2 and 4 percentage points, respectively. In Spain, 14 percent do it regularly, 29 percent with some regularity and 11 percent occasionally. In France, 6 percent do it regularly, 36 percent with some regularity and 12 percent seldom.
Even more worryingly, 57 percent of the Italians and 51 percent of the Spaniards never engage in any physical activity such as cycling, dancing or gardening.
Germany and the U.K. fared better in the latest survey, with only 38 percent and 37 percent of the people never exercising or playing sports in those two countries, but the ratios are up by 9 and 2 percentage points, respectively, as compared to 2013. In Germany, 5 percent do it regularly, 43 percent with some regularity, and 14 percent occasionally. In the U.K.,13 percent do it regularly, 34 percent with some regularity and 16 percent seldom.
The proportion of respondents who never engage in any physical activity such as cycling, dancing or gardening is 34 percent in France, 32 percent in the U.K. and 20 percent in Germany.
The survey, which covered all the member countries of the EU, showed some improvement in the population's participation in sports activities in only six countries as compared to four years earlier: Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Malta. Declines were registered in the other countries, especially in Austria, Croatia, Latvia and Estonia.
By gender, men exercise, play sport or engage in other physical activity more than women across the EU. This disparity is particularly marked in the 15-24 age group, with young men tending to exercise or play sport on a regular basis considerably more than young women. The amount of regular activity that people do tends to decrease with age.
The Eurobarometer also shows that most physical activity takes place in informal settings, such as in parks and other outdoor environments (40 percent) or at home (32 percent). Respondents in Finland are most likely to engage in sport or physical activity in a park or elsewhere outdoors (67 percent). This also applies to more than half of respondents in Austria (54 percent), Spain (53 percent), Sweden (52 percent), Slovenia and Estonia (both at 51 percent). The lowest proportions were recorded in Hungary and Romania (both at 17 percent).
Sport or physical activity at home is popular in Eastern European countries and is less common in Southern Europe, specifically in Spain and Italy (both at 16 percent of the sample). The same pattern applies to engaging in sport or physical activity at work, with low figures again in Italy and Spain (both at 4 percent), while work is most popular as a setting in Eastern European countries.
Respondents in Sweden (44 percent) are, by far, the most likely to engage in sport or physical activity in a health or fitness center. When it comes to sports clubs, the highest proportions for memberships are observed in the Netherlands (27 percent), Denmark and Germany (both 23 percent), while the lowest proportions are seen in Bulgaria and Romania (both at 2 percent).
The Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (Fesi) said that these figures indicate that local municipalities and other public authorities should encourage citizens to be more physically active in their daily lives. It points to the role that employers can play by motivating employees to commute by bicycles and to move around in the workplace.
The European Commission, which has taken some initiatives to encourage sports participation such as the European Week of Sport, said that they are likely to take a few years to produce tangible effects and change people's behavior, especially since a lot of the effort is focused on young people.
We believe that much of the deterioration in sports participation is due to increasing use of smartphones and other screens, especially by young people, which could be changed through more intense and attractive physical education programs. We also feel that the sports brands and sports retailers can help reverse the trend by engaging them in sports activities, as Sport Scheck and Keller Sport are doing (see the article on Keller Sport in this issue).
We agree with Jérôme Pero, the new secretary general of Fesi, that there should be more intergovernmental coordination for the promotion of sport at the grassroots level, involving the ministries of youth, sport, education, health, tourism, transportation and the economy. It's also the desire recently expressed by Andrés de la Dehesa, who has just been elected as the new president of Afydad, the Spanish sporting goods industry association.
The sporting goods industry has made some recommendations for policy-makers that will come out in a few weeks' time in a report commissioned by Fesi and supported by the European Commission on the economic relevance of sport and the development of a more competitive sporting goods industry in the EU.
