Active Lives report: no change in adult activity levels

There was no real increase in the number of physically active adults during 2023, with a quarter of the adult population still deemed physically inactive.

Figures from Sport England’s latest Active Lives Adult Survey report show that, between November 2022 and November 2023, 63.4% of the adult population met the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of doing at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week.

The figure is practically unchanged from the 63.1% the year before (2022).

Worryingly, the number of people classed as inactive – averaging fewer than 30 minutes a week – is showing no signs of decreasing, with 25.7% of the population (11.9m) falling into the category (compared to 25.8% in 2022).

The report also reveals that many long-standing inequalities remain, with women, those from lower socio-economic groups and Black and Asian people still less likely to be active than others.

This despite Sport England – the agency tasked with getting people more active – saying it has put “tackling inequalities at the heart” of its Uniting the Movement strategy, which it launched more than three years ago, in January 2021.

According to the Active Lives report, the activities to have seen significant growth included active travel and fitness activities.