A new report confirms the vital role of outdoor activities for our communities.

In October 2023, the second edition of the National Sport and Physical Activity Participation report has been updated and released by Australian Sports Commission.

The report describes AusPlay as “the largest and most comprehensive survey of its kind ever undertaken in Australia”, with 20,000 Australia residents completing the survey between 2016 and 2022. The report digs into the motivators and barriers for participation for the population as a whole, and at different life stages. Data is also broken down into the different States/Territories.

The vision of Outdoors Queensland is for a world where the outdoors is a vital part of healthy lives. This report shows the critical role of non-sport activities (encompassing outdoor recreation and fitness) in physical activity.

For overall participation, the report shows that across Australia from July 2022 to June 2023, 19.1 million adults participated in physical activity:

• 10.3 million adults participated in both sport and non-sport related activites,
• 5.6 million adults participated in only non-sport related activities, and
• 3.2 million adults participated in only sport related activities.

For the same period, across Queensland the report shows 3.7 million adults participated in physical activity:

• 2.0 million adults participated in both sport and non-sport related activites,
• 1.1 million adults participated in only non-sport related activities, and
• 0.6 million adults participated in only sport related activities.

The report also provides information for children, indicating higher levels of participation in organised activities such as sports, as would be expected.

The report is presented is a variety of ways, with data visualisations and a data portal to help tell its stories. The website includes almost 60 individual sport and physical activity reports which provide detail on participation. If you are involved in one particular activity, you can get a detailed report about that activity, including motivators and barriers given for participation.

The latest results of AUSPLAY ™ are available from the following webpage: