Children’s activity levels are on the rise, according to Sport England’s second annual Active Lives Children and Young People Survey.
The report, covering the academic year 2018/19, showed an increase of 3.6% in the number of children in England doing an average of 60 minutes or more of physical activity a day.
That means that 46.8% of the nation’s children and young people are meeting the recommended level, with the increase driven by more out of school activity – including increases in active play, team sports and walking.
At the other end of the scale, 2.1 million children and young people (29.0%) are doing fewer than 30 minutes of physical activity a day, and while that number is down (by 3.9% over the last year) it’s a reminder of how much more needs to be done. In the middle, another 1.7 million (24.2%) children are ‘fairly active’ – taking part in average of 30-59 minutes a day.
Inequalities illustrated by last year’s report remain, with 54% of children from the most affluent families considered active compared to 42% from the least affluent families – while from the age of five up, boys are more active than girls at every age.