Wales Activity Tracker Survey 7 - January 2023

Savanta interviewed 1,035 respondents aged 16+ online between 6th January and 9th January 2023. Savanta is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. All participants were from Wales and data has been weighted to be representative of the Welsh population by age, gender, region and socio-economic status.

Key findings

The proportion of Welsh adults doing some physical activity (2-4 days a week) is consistent with Mid-2022 (Aug 22), with two in five doing so. This is an increase compared to Early- 2022 (Feb 22). The proportion of people doing physical activity on most days (5+ days a week) remains consistent with 2022 (19%).
The most common activity remains walking, in line with Mid-2022 (Aug 22) and has significantly increased compared to Early-2022 (Feb 22). Fewer respondents are also doing this activity with someone else when compared to Mid-2022 (Aug 22).
Welsh adults are more likely to feel that they have both the opportunity and ability to be active compared to Mid-2022 (Aug 22), as well as being more likely to agree that they have the confidence to be physically active. However, improved access and confidence are consistently stronger among male respondents than female, showing there is still work to do.
Similarly, people’s confidence to attend indoor facilities continues to grow post-pandemic. People are more likely than Mid-2022 (Aug 22) to attend gyms/health and fitness suites and swimming pools, whilst confidence has also increased since Early-2022 (Feb 22) to attend sports halls, studios and indoor courts.
However, confidence remains relatively low overall. Almost half of Welsh adults say they do not feel confident in indoor courts, two in five do not feel confident in studios or sports halls, and over a third do not feel confident in gyms/health and fitness suites. This trend is again driven largely by female respondents, as well as those who are older.
The cost-of-living crisis also continues to significantly impact people’s physical activity. Two in five say the cost-of-living crisis has had a negative impact on their ability to be active, whilst a third say they’ve been doing less sport and physical activity due to changes in the cost-of-living. This remains consistent with findings from Mid-2022 (Aug 22).
One in four also say changes in the cost-of-living means they have/will switch to cheaper/free activities, whilst one in five say they will/have taken part in fewer paid activities or spend less on sports clothing/equipment. These issues consistently impact young people (16-34) most, as well as those with children.
Two in three Welsh adults say they enjoyed taking part in PE and/or sport at secondary school to any extent, with three in ten saying they did so to a great extent. Male respondents are more likely to say they enjoyed taking part in PE and/or sport at secondary school to any extent, as well as to a great extent.

Activity levels

Physical activity is defined as a total of 30 mins or more of exercise which was enough to raise breathing rate.

The majority of Welsh adults did physical activity on 2-4 days (46%), which is an increase on early 2022 (Feb 22) (41%) and in line with Mid-2022 (Aug 22) (48%).
The proportion who did no exercise has remained steady since Aug 22 (22% vs. 20%).
The number of people doing physical activity on 5+ days (19%) continues its decline from mid-2021 (Aug 21) (29%).
Respondents aged 55+ are more likely than 16-34s to have done no physical activity (25% vs. 18%).
Respondents in social grade C2DE are more likely to have done no physical activity than those in ABC1 (29% vs. 17%).

Activity type and frequency

The most common activities done by respondents in the week preceding the survey period are walking for leisure (57%), walking for travel (23%) and going to the gym, fitness or exercise classes (15%).
Respondents are more likely than in early 2022 (Feb 22) to have walked for leisure or travel (67% vs. 63%).
Just under half (49%) of those who walk for leisure do so with somebody else, a decrease from 58% in mid-2022 (Aug 22).
Two thirds (65%) of those who go to the gym, fitness or exercise class do so alone, an increase from Early 2022 (Feb 22) (58%), whilst the proportion doing so with somebody else has also decreased (35% vs. 47%).

Three in five respondents say they have walked for either leisure of travel regularly (at least once per month) in the last three months (62%), whilst one in five say they have gone to the gym, fitness or exercise class (23%) and 20% have been swimming regularly.
Over one in ten (14%) say they have done no regular physical activity in the last three months.
The proportion of respondents saying they have gone to the gym, fitness or exercise class regularly continues to increase from early 2022 (Feb 22) (23% vs. 18%).
Respondents aged 55+ are more likely than 16-34s to say they have done no regular exercise in the last three months (17% vs. 10%), as are female respondents (16% vs. 11%).
16-34s are more likely to have gone to the gym, fitness or exercise class regularly (37% vs. 27% vs. 11%), whilst 55+ are more likely to have walked for leisure or travel (70% vs. 49% vs. 62%).

Reasons for taking part

Three in five (61%) say they exercise to help manage their mental health, an increase from 53% in early 2022 (Feb 22), and the same proportion say they do so to help manage their physical health (59%),
Of those who have done physical activity regularly in the last three months, three in five respondents (57%) rank being physically healthy as their top reason for taking part, an increase from 30% in early 2022 (Feb 22). One in five (20%) rank feeling good as their top reason.

Opportunity & ability

Seven in ten (72%) respondents agree that they have the ability to be physically active, an increase from 64% in mid-2022 (Aug 22).
Seven in ten (70%) respondents agree that they have the opportunity to be physically active, an increase from 65% in mid-2022 (Aug 22).

Attitudes to activity

Enjoyability, importance and confidence

More than half (56%) of respondents agree that they find exercise enjoyable and satisfying.
Two thirds (67%) of respondents agree that it is important to them to exercise regularly.
Three in five (62%) respondents agree that they have the confidence to be physically active, an increase from 54% in mid-2022 (Aug 22).

Location confidence

Confidence in indoor locations has continued to increase since mid-2022 (Aug 22), including gyms/health and fitness suites (45% vs. 37%) and swimming pools (55% vs. 46%).
Confidence has also increased since early 2022 (Feb 22) in gyms/health and fitness suites (45% vs. 35%), sports halls (33% vs. 28%), studios (32% vs. 25%) and indoor courts (28% vs. 25%).
Respondents aged 16-34 are more confident than other age groups in gyms/health and fitness suites (58% vs. 51% vs. 33%)
However, confidence overall remains relatively low in these locations. For example, 47% of respondents say they do not feel confident in indoor courts, 42% in studios, 38% in sports halls, and 35% in gyms/health and fitness suites.
Two in five respondents (40%) who have participated in a sport or activity in the week preceding the survey period have used an indoor facility.
22% have used indoor gyms or fitness centres, 20% have used indoor swimming pools, and 8% have used other indoor facilities.
Swimming pools have seen a significant increase in usage from Early 2022 (Feb 22) (20% vs. 16%).
Of those who have participated in a sport or activity in an indoor facility in the past week, almost nine in ten say they were comfortable at indoor gyms or fitness centres (88%) and indoor swimming pools (88%).

Topic questions

Volunteering

Just over two in five respondents (43%) have not volunteered in sport and physical activity in the last three years, whilst one in ten (11%) have stopped volunteering. More than one in ten (15%) are currently volunteering, a significant increase on Early 2022 (Feb 22) (12%).
Current volunteers are more likely to be male (20% vs. 10%), 16-34 (26% vs. 16% vs. 7%) and have children (22% vs. 11%)
Almost half of respondents say they won’t be volunteering in the next 12 months (47%), whilst over a third say they are likely to support a cause outside of coronavirus or sport and physical activity (36%).
A third also say they are likely to volunteer to support sport and physical activity (34%) or to support the response to coronavirus (34%).
Male respondents (39% vs. 29%) and 16-34s (44% vs. 31% vs. 29%) are more likely to volunteer to support the response to coronavirus.
Male respondents (41% vs. 26%) and 16-34s (46% vs. 34% vs. 26%) are more likely to volunteer to support sport and physical activity.
Male respondents (43% vs. 30%) and 16-34s (48% vs. 36% vs. 29%) are more likely to volunteer to support a cause outside of coronavirus or sport and physical activity.

Cost-of-living

Two in five respondents (42%) say the cost-of-living crisis has had a negative impact on their ability to be active, with less than one in ten (9%) saying it has had a positive impact.
16-34s and 35-54s are more likely than 55+ (45% vs. 50% vs. 35%) are more likely to agree that the cost-of-living crisis has had a negative impact on their ability to be active, as are those with children compared to those without (53% vs. 36%).
Almost half (47%) of respondents say the changes in the cost-of-living have not impacted their participation in sport and physical activity, whilst a third (32%) say they’ve been doing less sport and physical activity due to changes in the cost-of-living and less than one in ten (8%) that they’ve been doing more.
Female respondents are more likely than male (37% vs. 27%) and 16-34s and 35-54s are more likely than 55+ (41% vs. 39% vs. 21%) to say they’ve been doing less sport and physical activity due to changes in the cost-of-living, as are those with children compared to those without (46% vs. 25%).
A quarter (24%) of respondents say changes in the cost-of-living means they have/will switch to cheaper/free activities, whilst one in five say they will/have take part in fewer paid activities (22%) or spend less on sports clothing/equipment (20%).
16-34s and 35-54s are more likely than 55+ (29% vs. 27% vs. 18%) to say changes in the cost-of-living means they have/will switch to cheaper/free activities, as are those with children compared to those without (31% vs. 20%).
16-34s and 35-54s are more likely than 55+ (25% vs. 30% vs. 15%) are more likely to say changes in the cost-of-living means they have/will switch to cheaper/free activities, as are those with children compared to those without (37% vs. 15%).
Those with children are more likely than those without (27% vs. 17%) to say changes in the cost-of-living means they have/will spend less on sports clothing/equipment.

Secondary school activity

Three quarters of respondents (73%) say they enjoyed taking part in PE and/or sport at secondary school to any extent, with three in ten (30%) saying they did so to a great extent.
Male respondents (84% vs. 62%) are more likely to say they enjoyed taking part in PE and/or sport at secondary school to any extent, as well as to a great extent (40% vs. 21%).