Walking Proves Australia's Most Popular Activity

Sam Richards — 11 July 2019
New stats shed light on how Aussies engage in physical activity. Walking, it turns out, takes the cake.

Walking ranks as Australia’s number one sport/physical activity, according to the recent AusPlay survey by Sport Australia. As many as 8,783,064 Aussies participated in recreational walking over the course of the year.

This revelation comes in a climate of increasing physical activity levels by Australians. In 2016, 59.9 per cent participated in sport or physical activity at least three times a week. The figure is now 63 per cent.

However, Sport Australia CEO Kate Palmer says more improvement and long-term change is required to combat the nation’s inactivity crisis.



“The positive news in this data is that it shows Australians are making the effort to get moving because they are becoming more aware of the importance of sport and physical activity to their health and wellbeing,” Palmer says.

“It’s a small step in the right direction, but we’re still falling a long way behind when it comes to meeting recommended physical activity guidelines.”

“Our general lifestyles are becoming more sedentary than ever before because of things such as technological advances, so that makes it critically important to find dedicated time for sport and physical activity in our lives.”

Also of note – as many as 1,189,493 Aussies participated in ‘Bushwalking’. Bushwalking had the closest gender equality of all of the top 20 sports or activities, with 51 per cent female, 49 per cent male.

After walking, fitness/gym and swimming came in as the most popular, with cycling down as number five with 2,359,660 participants. 

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