Sport participation

IBISWorld forecasts Australia's sport participation to dip 0.1 percentage points in 2025-26, to 65.8% of the population. IBISWorld expects sport participation to continue the recent trend of falling levels in the years following the pandemic. Although Australians are generally becoming more aware of the importance of health and exercise, the slowly shifting demographic of Australia has meant that people aged 15 to 64, which includes the most active age groups, are making up a declining share of the total population.

Cost-of-living pressures have had a two-fold impact on sports participation. First, it has priced out many people from memberships at gyms and health clubs, leaving them to self-motivate their exercise regime without the social pressure of routinely attending a team sport or class like CrossFit, F45, Hyrox and Body Fit Training (BFT). Secondly, people have been putting exercise on hold because of pressures on household budgets. As a result, individuals have been working longer hours where possible or picking up additional work, leaving less time for exercise.

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) highlights factors like perceived competency, the perception that sporting environments are too competitive and the inconvenience of training and competition times as factors that consistently result in non-participation by individuals. At the same time, physical health and fitness are the strongest motivators for people over 15 to participate in sports. The ASC also notes that emerging research suggests that either specialisation or non-participation at a younger age may contribute to an individual not participating in sport to any degree at an older age.

In the ASC's most recent report covering 2023-24 data, the men aged 55-64 cohort reported the highest participation rate at 70.4%. This demographic is approaching and entering retirement, with hobbies like golf and tennis being particularly popular in this cohort. The next highest participation rate was males aged 15-17, a cohort that regularly participates in team sports both in school and in the broader community through extracurricular activities. While women on average reported a reduced likelihood of participating in weekly sport, the 18-44 cohort reported higher participation rates than their male counterparts. The growth in female leagues both domestically and internationally has shone a new light on women's sports, encouraging non-athletes to take part in recreational and competitive sports in a way that has not been seen before.

According to the ASC's report, the Australian Capital Territory has the highest weekly participation rate, at 77.9%. In comparison, South Australia had the lowest result, at 64.5% in 2023-24 (most recent data). Overall, IBISWorld forecasts sport participation to shrink at an annualised 0.3 percentage points over the five years through the end of 2025-26.