Physical activity is defined as a total of 30 mins or more of exercise which was enough to raise breathing rate.
Activity levels
- One in two (50%) respondents report doing physical activity on 2-4 days of activity in the past week, which remains in line with Oct 24 (48%) and Jan 24 (47%).
- The proportion of respondents doing physical activity on 5+ days a week (29%) also remains in line with Oct 24 (28%), but slightly higher than Jan 24 (24%).
- The proportion of respondents doing no exercise (13%) is also slightly lower than in Jan 24 (19%).
- Adults in Wales reported a mean of 3.31 days of physical activity per week. This is higher than Jan 24 (2.86).
- Respondents aged 55+ are significantly more likely than 35-54- and 16-34-year-olds to have done no physical activity in the past week (20% and 10% vs 6%).
- Respondents with a disability are significantly more likely than those without to have done no physical activity in the past week (22% vs 8%).
- Respondents from lower socio-economic backgrounds (C2DE) are significantly more likely to say they do no physical activity than those from higher groups (ABC1) (18% vs 8%).
- Over nine in ten (92%) respondents who have children aged 15 or younger said that their children did some form of physical activity outside of school hours on a typical weekday.
- This is significantly higher than Jan 24 (84%), and the highest figure seen since Oct 23 (92%).
- Over nine in ten (92%) respondents who have children aged 15 or younger also said that their children did some form of physical activity outside of school hours on a typical weekend day. This is in line with Oct 24 (93%) and Jan 24 (90%).
Activity type and frequency
- The most common activities done by respondents in the week preceding the survey period were walking for leisure (61%), walking for travel (28%), gym, fitness or exercise class away from home (21%) and running or jogging (19%).
- In the last three months, just over three in five respondents say they regularly walk for either leisure or travel (64%) (at least once per month).
- Just over one in four say they go to a gym, fitness or exercise class (28%) and over one in five go running or jogging (23%), overtaking swimming (20%) as the third most common physical activity among adults in Wales in the last three months.
- One in ten (10%) say they have done no regular physical activity in the last three months. This is the same as in Oct 24 (10%) and remains the joint-lowest figure seen across all waves.
Opportunity & ability
- Just under three quarters (74%) of respondents agree that they have the ability to be physically active, the same as in Oct 24 and remaining the highest score seen across all waves.
- 16-34s and 35-54s are significantly more likely than 55+ to agree they have the ability to be physically active (84% and 79% vs 63%).
- Respondents with no disability are significantly more likely than those with a disability to agree they have the ability to be physically active (86% vs 51%).
- Respondents from higher socio-economic backgrounds (ABC1) are significantly more likely to agree they have the ability to be physically active than those from lower groups (C2DE) (81% vs 67%).
- Just under three in four (73%) respondents agree that they have the opportunity to be physically active, in line with Oct 24 (74%) and Jan 24 (73%).
- Respondents from higher socio-economic backgrounds (ABC1) are significantly more likely to agree that they have the opportunity to be physically active than those from lower groups (C2DE) (79% vs 68%).
- Respondents with no disability are significantly more likely than those with a disability to agree they have the opportunity to be physically active (83% vs 55%).
- Those with children living in the household are significantly more likely than those without to agree that they have the opportunity to be physically active (80% vs 71%).
- Just over one in four (27%) respondents agree that they don’t have enough time to be physically active due to other commitments. This is significantly lower than in Jan 24 (34%) and the lowest figure seen across all waves.
- This total decrease is precipitated by a significant decrease in agreement levels among younger respondents. Agreement among 16-34-year-olds fell to 36% (vs 51% in Jan 24), while among 35–54-year-olds it fell to 33% (vs 41% in Jan 24).
- However, respondents aged 16-34 and 35-54 remain significantly more likely than 55+ year olds to agree that they don’t have enough time to be physically active due to other commitments (36% and 33% vs 16%).
- Respondents with children aged 15 or under are significantly more likely than those without to agree that they don’t have enough time to be physically active due to other commitments (34% vs 22%).
- Respondents in the most deprived areas are significantly more likely than those in the least deprived to agree that they don’t have enough time to be physically active due to other commitments (29% vs 21%).
- Respondents with other care responsibilities in the household are significantly more likely than those who don’t to agree that they don’t have enough time to be physically active due to other commitments (35% vs 25%).
- Adults in Wales from higher socio-economic backgrounds (ABC1) are significantly more likely to agree that there are an adequate number of sport and physical activity facilities in their local area than those from lower groups (C2DE) (63% vs 52%).
- Those living in the Mid Wales local authority are most likely disagree that there are an adequate number of sport and physical activity facilities in their local area (26%), significantly higher than respondents in Gwent (11%).
