Australian households spend almost $16 a week on sports and recreation products a week, and people in sports and physical recreation occupations were more likely to have a lower income than persons in the general working population.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has updated data about sport and recreation, including information on who is participating in these activities, the amount of time spent, how much people are spending, who is employed and how much do they earn.

Participation:

• There were 9.1 million persons aged 18 years and over (62.4% of the adult population) who participated in physical activities for recreation, exercise or sport at some time during the 12 months prior to interview in 2002. Slightly more than half of these persons (4.6 million) participated in organised sports and physical recreation.
  
  
• The most popular physical recreation activity for both males and females was walking for exercise. However, the participation rate was much higher for females (32.9%) than it was for males (17.5%).
  
  
• There were 1.6 million children aged 5-14 years (61.6%) of the population who participated in organised sport outside of school hours during the 12 months ending April 2003.

Time Spent:

• Australian aged 15 years and over spent an average of 27 minutes (8.5%) of their free time each day on sport and outdoor activities in 1997. For males the average time spent on sport and outdoor activities was 33 minutes, while for females it was 20 minutes.
• On average, 27.1% of Australians aged 15 years and over actually participated in sport or outdoor activities each day in 1997. Those who participated spent an average of 1 hour and 43 minutes (20.4%) of their free time each day.

Expenditure by Household:

• Australian households spent an average of $15.70 per week on selected sports and physical recreation products during 2003-04.
  
  
• The total expenditure by Austrlaian households on seleted sports and physical recreation products in 2003-04 was $6,332.5m. This was 1.8% of the amount Australian households spent on all products.

Employment and Voluntary Work:

• There were 83,008 persons whose main job was in a sports and physical recreation occupation at the time of the 2001 census. This was 21.6% higher than the corresponding figure from the 1996 census.
  
  
• On average, persons in sports and physical recreation occupations were more likley to be working part-time and more likely to have a lower income that persons in the general working population.
  
  
• At the end of June 2005, there 111,519 persons working for organisations mainly engaged in providing sports and physical recration services. Of these persons, 46,552 were working for not-for-profit organisations and 11,051 for government organisations. The remainder were working for businesses aiming to make a profit.
  
  
• There were 1.8million persons aged 18 years and over (12.1% of the adult population) who undertook voluntary work for sport, recreation and hobby organisations during the 12 months prior to interview in 2002. This was a greater number than for any other type of organisation. A greater percentage of males (15.1%) undertook voluntary work for sport, recreation and hobby organisations than did females (9.2%).

Source: Australian Bureau Statistics, Sport and Recreation:A Statistical Overview, Australia, 2006 Edition 2.