Active NZ

How active are we?

• 68% of our young people (5-17 year olds) and adults are active (they do at least 2.5 hours or more of sport and active leisure per week).
• 32% or around 233,000 young people and 32% or 878,000 adults are inactive (they either do no physical activity or less than 2.5 hours per week).
• More girls (36%) are inactive than boys (27%) and more women (34%) are inactive than men (31%).
• Adults were more active in 2000/01 (70%) than they were in 1997/98 (67%), resulting in around 150,000 more adults being active.
• Activity levels for young people have declined from 69% in 1997/98 to 66% in 2000/01. This was especially true for boys, Maori and young Pacific people, and young people aged 5-8 and 13-15 years of age.

• Young Maori and young European people are the most active (71% and 70% respectively), compared to 52% of young Pacific people or young people from other ethnic groups (59%).
• Maori girls are more active than European and Pacific girls and girls from other ethnic groups (70%, 64%, 52% and 55% respectively). European and Maori boys (76% and 72%) are more active than boys from other ethnic groups or Pacific boys (63% and 53%).

• Maori and European adults are the most active (67% and 69% respectively). 63% of Pacific adults are active. Adults from other ethnic groups are the least active with only 54% being active.
• Activity levels for Maori, European and Pacific men are similar (between 68% and 71% are active), but men from other ethnic groups are the least active (57%).
• European and Maori women are the most active (68% and 65%), compared to Pacific women (58%) and women from other ethnic groups (51%).
• 39% of adults are active for 30 minutes a day on five or more days per week (these people most closely meet the physical activity guidelines in terms of being regularly active).

How active do we want to be?

• Close to three in five (or 62%) of our young people are interested in participating in a new sport or active leisure activity. Teenagers show less interest in doing new sports or active leisure; in particular those aged 16-17 years (50%).
• Young Maori (66%), particularly boys (68%), show the most interest in taking up a new sport or active leisure. Pacific girls also show the most interest (69%) when compared to girls from other ethnic groups (around 62%).

• Among adults, 57% would like to spend more time taking part in sport and active leisure. Men and women are equally interested in being more active but as people get older, levels of interest in being more active decrease to 32% for those adults aged 65 years or over (66% of them are happy with their current level of activity).
• Those adults aged 65 years or over are less likely to want to be more active in 2000/01 when compared to 1997/98 (29% and 35% respectively). This is also true for European adults (55% and 58% respectively). On the other hand, more adults from other ethnic groups in 2000/01 want to be more active than they did in 1997/98 (68% to 58%).

How, and in what sport and active leisure, do we participate?

• Almost all young people (92% or 669,000) take part in some sport and active leisure over the year. Participation rates are high for both boys and girls (93% and 91%).
• Participation for young people aged 5 to 15 years old is high (around 94%) but for 16 and 17 year olds it is noticeably lower at 78%.
• Almost all young Maori and Europeans (92% and 93% respectively) enjoy some sport or active leisure, along with 90% of young people from other ethnic groups and 84% of young Pacific people.
• Schools and activity: Around two-thirds of boys and girls (67% and 70%) are involved in sport and active leisure activity at school during school hours. More than one in five boys and girls (21% in each case) also take part in sports and activities organised by the school before or after the main school day.
• Club participation: Around a third of young people play sport with a club (33%), although this is more common for boys (38%) than girls (28%).
• Top sports and activities: The top five sports and active leisure for boys are: swimming, rugby union, soccer, cycling and cricket. The top five sports and active leisure for girls are swimming, exercising, outdoor games, netball and cycling.
• Coaching/instruction: Around three in five (62%) of young people receive some form of coaching or instruction to improve their performance in a sport or active leisure activity. European young people are more likely to have received some coaching than Maori or Pacific young people or young people from other ethnic groups (68%, 54%, 38% and 46% respectively). Boys are also more likely than girls (66% and 58%) to have received coaching, as are those young people aged 9-12 years when compared to other young people.

• Almost all New Zealand adults (98% or around 2.67 million) enjoy some sport and active leisure over the year.
• Participation rates over a year in sport and active leisure are equally high for all New Zealanders, including Maori, European, Pacific people and people from other ethnic groups.
• Almost all men and women take part in some sport or active leisure in a year, but men take part in more activities than women (the averages for all sport and activities are 5.4. and 4.6 respectively).
• Around 2.27 million adults (83%) take part in a sporting activity. Men, Maori and those adults 49 years or under (in particular those aged 18-24 years) are more likely to participate in a sport than women, adults from other ethnic groups and older adults (those over 50 years of age).
• Top sports and activities: The popularity of sports and activities varies for men and women, and for people of different ages and cultures. Popular sports include golf, tennis and touch rugby for both men and women. Women also enjoy participating in netball and horse riding whereas men participate more in cricket and rugby union.
• Golf is the main sport New Zealand adults participate in. For Maori, it is touch rugby. Volleyball is the sport most Pacific adults participate in and for adults from other ethnic groups, it is badminton. Netball and basketball are also popular with both Maori and Pacific adults, as are rugby union and rugby league.
• Walking and gardening are the two main physical activities men and women do in their leisure time. Other popular physical activities include swimming, fishing and exercising at home or at the gym.
• Club membership: Around a third of New Zealand adults (36%) who have participated in a sport or physical activity in the last four weeks are currently active members of a club or gym. Men are more likely to be club members than women (41% and 31% respectively).
• Four out of ten Maori and around a third of European New Zealanders and Pacific adults belong to clubs (36% and 35%). People from other ethnic groups are less likely to be club members - only 24% are members of a club to participate in a sport or active leisure activity.
• Coaching and organised competition: Just over two out of 10adults (23%) currently receive some coaching or instruction for at least one of their chosen sports or active leisure. Around a quarter of New Zealand adults (26%) take part in at least one sport or active leisure competition over the last year.
• When compared to European New Zealand adults and adults from other ethnic groups, Maori and Pacific adults are more likely to participate in an organised competition and have received some coaching or instruction.
• The levels of club membership and participation in an organised sport or active leisure competition for young adults (18-24 years of age) fell between 1997/98 and 2000/01 from 53% to 42% and 45% to 32% respectively. Those that received coaching fell from 43% to 37% over this period. However, young adults are still more likely to be a member of a club, to participate in a sport or physical activity, to play in an organised competition and have received some coaching or instruction than adults aged 25 years or over.
• Involvement as a coach, referee, official, administrator, parent helper: 27% of adults have been involved as a coach/instructor, a referee or other official, an administrator and/or as a parent helper in the past 12 months. Young adults are less likely to be involved in one of these roles in 2000/01 than in 1997/98 (23% and 31%), whereas those adults aged 50-64 years are more likely to be (24% and 19%).

Updated | 13 Mar 2007.

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