Sport England today published new participation figures which show that mountaineering is one of only 4 sports which has shown an increase in participation.

The figures come from the Active People Survey 5.  Participation* in mountaineering** has grown from 86,100 adults (0.21%) in 2007/8 to 109,600 adults (0.26%), an increase of 23,500 participants.

Other sports showing an increase are athletics, table tennis and boxing. However there has been a decrease in participation in other major sports such as swimming and tennis.

Mountaineering and athletics are the only two showing a significant increase in the results of the last two consecutive surveys.

Sport England’s Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said:

“This is a disappointing set of results.... We are working in a tough climate, with a third of those playing less sport putting it down to economic factors, but the Olympic and Paralympic Games next year give us a great opportunity to reverse this trend.

“The results also clearly show that we need to work much harder with young people, given the fall in participation among 16- to 19-year-olds.

“I am encouraged to see an increase in the number of disabled people playing sport. But we need to tackle head on the widening gender gap by doing much more to make sport relevant and appealing to women.”

View Sport England's press release and latest sport-by-sport figures.
 

*Participation is defined as the number of adults (age 16 plus) who have taken part in the sport at moderate intensity for 30 minutes or more at least once in the last week (at least four days out of the previous 28 days).

**Mountaineering includes the following activities: climbing indoors, climbing rock, mountaineering, mountaineering high altitude, hill trekking, hill walking, bouldering, mountain walking.

« Back