Eurobarometer on attitudes to sport

rflynnr

This isn't cycling specific but just happened across it and thought I'd share:

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_334_en.pdf

The headline news is that more Irish people exercise "regularly or with some regularity" than members of any other EU nation. Am I alone in finding this surprising?

(Incidentally the country at the other end of the scale is Greece which, since they invented marathon running, seems equally surprising.)

Lumen

Gullible Fools wrote:

Turning to the results from the individual EU members, Ireland emerges as having more people (23%) who play sport ‘regularly’ (5 times a week or more) than any other European nation;

Er, no. It shows that Ireland has more people who claim to play sport.

rflynnr

An important - and correct - distinction.

niceonetom

Does binge drinking count as a sport now? That's the only explanation that spring to my mind.

L'Enfer du Nord

Irish people or people resident in Ireland?
Also with our age profile we should be the most active.
‘5 times a week or more’ is a lot, We’re kind of a land of extremes maybe we do have quite a few who do that. Just as many who do F*** all exercise.
We probably have a relatively high percentage of tea-totalers, while being the amongst the leading binge drinkers.

L'Enfer du Nord

L'Enfer du Nord wrote: »

Irish people or people resident in Ireland?
Also with our age profile we should be the most active.
‘5 times a week or more’ is a lot, We’re kind of a land of extremes maybe we do have quite a few who do that. Just as many who do F*** all exercise.
We probably have a relatively high percentage of tea-totalers, while being the amongst the leading binge drinkers.

Closer examination reveals that we only have 26% never doing any sport, which is at the lowever end of the scale (average is 39%, top is Greece 67%, bottom is Sweeden 6%).

I find it hard to believe that 74% of people 'play' sports at least once a year. I suppose Golf is pretty popular but still.

What ever about binge drinking, watching sport on TV is obviously considered a sport in ireland, as is lying (which is heavily encouraged by the government) .

monument

Here's the Ireland fact sheet:

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_334_fact_ie_en.pdf

It's important to stress that the survey is on sport and physical activity, so excise from walking a tiny bit or going to the gym every so often is included. And we're still talking about very low percentages:

How often do you exercise of play sport?

Answer: Regulary

EU27 9% - IE 23%

Also notable are some of the differences between where exercise is done:

Where do you engage in sports or physical activity?

In a park, out in nature: EU27 48% - IE 43%
On the way between home and school/ work/ shops: EU27 31% - IE 25%
In a fitness centre: EU27 11% - IE 16%
In a club: EU27 11% - IE 16%
[etc...]

And 19% of Irish respondents (compared to an average of 10%) answered that they did not know what is preventing them from more regular activity. Irish were lower than the average here for not having enough time being the main reason, but elsewhere 51% agreed (mix of strongly agree or tend to agree) with the statment "there are opportunities to be physically active in my area but I do not have the time to take advantage of them."

EDIT: Also: The main report says:

At the country level, the Member States where most people are active ‘regularly’ are Latvia (44%), Denmark (43%), the Netherlands (43%), Hungary (41%), Estonia (40%) and Sweden (40%)...

The vast majority of EU Member States have citizens who are physically active at least once a week. Leading the way by this measure are Denmark (85%), the Netherlands (84%), Sweden (84%) and Slovenia (80%).

...Sweden (2%), Bulgaria (3%), Denmark (4%), Finland (4%), Slovenia (5%) and Netherlands (5%), where the fewest respondents are never active.

My highlighting -- These are all known for high levels of commuter cycling.

Lumen

"Physical activity", eh? That explains it.