The latest results from the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey for the 2024-25 academic year have been published by Sport England.
The survey shows that nationally 49.1% of children are meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ (CMO) guidelines of taking part in an average of 60 minutes or more of sport and physical activity every day.
This means the number of children and young people in England who are active is at the highest level since the Active Lives Survey began in 2017-18.
This reflects significant progress, especially given the huge disruption caused by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, and is testament to the hard work of schools, sports clubs and many organisations working with children and young people.
However the report also shows that more than half of children and young people still do not meet the CMO guidelines, with 28.4% active for less than 30 minutes a day, and 22.5% classed as fairly active, doing an average of between 30 and 59 minutes of activity a day.
In Derbyshire the percentage of young people who are active is now 47%, up from 45.8% in 2023-24 academic year.
In Notts 47.8% of young people are classed as active, up slightly from 2023-24 when the figure was 47.6%.
The survey also continues to show that participation in sport and physical activity varies greatly among different demographic groups.
Significant inequalities remain in activity levels, with Black (41%) and Asian (43%) children and young people, and those from the least affluent families (45%), still less likely to play sport or be physically active than the average across all ethnicities and affluence groups.
Girls (46%) are also less likely to be active than boys (52%), and the gender gap is widest between boys and girls from Asian (11.2%), Black (10.6%) and other (12.5%) ethnic groups.
The gap by ethnic group has widened over the past 12 months as White British (51%) and White Other (53%) children’s activity levels have increased at a faster rate.
Children and young people from the least affluent families are the least likely to be active, with only 45% meeting the CMO guidelines, compared to 58% of those from the most affluent families.
An analysis of the local data is now available here.
