Sport England survey reveals four in 10 adults do not do enough exercise

Sport England's new survey of physical activity across the country has revealed that four in 10 adults do not do enough exercise.

The largest of its kind in Europe, Active Lives replaces the Active People survey that tracked grassroots sports participation from London's successful bid for the Olympic Games in 2005 until last year.

The new survey is a far broader measure of physical fitness and is closely aligned with the government's attempts to tackle issues such as rising levels of diabetes and obesity.

This means there is less focus now on the type of traditional, organised sport provided by national governing bodies - although this is still measured - and more attention given to general physical activity such as cycling or walking as a means of transport, leisure walking and dancing.

But even despite this wider remit, 11.3 million adults, one in four, do less than 30 minutes of moderate exercise a week, with a further 6.1 million doing less than the recommended 150 minutes a week.

Physical inactivity, and the health risks associated with it, is a greater problem with lower socio-economic groups, the elderly and the disabled.

Men are also still more likely to be active than women, although that gap has closed slightly now Sport England is measuring more informal types of physical activity, such as walking and dancing.

Speaking to Press Association Sport, Sport England director of insight Lisa O'Keefe said: "This survey gives us a much richer picture of the activities people take part in and this first report is about setting the benchmark.

"We can see that 60.7 per cent of adults are hitting that 150-minutes-a-week mark but we've also got 25.6 per cent who aren't, and we can see significant differences between demographic groups.

"We think by looking at that much broader range of activity, we should be able to do something about that 25 per cent number."

In terms of the most popular sports, running is still the leader with 6.9 million adults doing at least two 30-minute sessions every 28 days. Cycling for leisure or sport is second with 6.6 million meeting that criteria, with "fitness classes" next on 6.3 million.

More than five million are recorded as attending "gym sessions" and 4.9 million swim regularly, while football remains the most popular team sport - with 2.3 million regular participants.

Cricket, netball and rugby union have 360,000, 320,000 and 260,000 participants respectively, with 252,000 people taking part in "snowsports" such as skiing. Golf is played by 972,000 adults and tennis 889,000, while 182,000 people aged 16 and above exercise by trampolining in the garden.

Nearly 200,000 people were surveyed for the first Active Lives report, which covers the period from mid-November 2015 to mid-November 2016.