Contents
- Community sport participation statistics: how adults take part through clubs and other social settings
- Community sport participation statistics: participation gaps by disability, income, age and gender
- Community sport participation statistics: local and regional differences in participation
- Community sport participation: organised sport, informal activity and participation settings
- Community sport participation: volunteering and roles that sustain clubs
- Community sport participation: activity choices and wellbeing
- Sources
Community sport participation statistics: how adults take part through clubs and other social settings
Community sport participation includes more than taking part in a match or exercise session. In Ireland, Sport Ireland defines regular social involvement in sport through 3 routes: sports club membership, volunteering and attendance at sporting events. In 2025, 47% of adults aged 16 and older, or 2.04 million people, were regularly involved through at least one of these routes. Club membership alone reached 37%, or 1.61 million adults. Source: Sport Ireland, Irish Sports Monitor 2025
The club figure was higher than the comparable 35% recorded in Ireland in 2023. In Northern Ireland, 25% of adults aged 16 and older said they had been a member of a sports club or organisation within the previous year in 2024/25. These figures describe membership in different places and periods; the sources do not establish that their definitions or survey methods are identical, so they are best read as separate national snapshots. Sources: Sport Ireland, Irish Sports Monitor 2025; NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25](https://datavis.nisra.gov.uk/communities/experience-of-sport-by-adults-in-northern-ireland-202425.html)
| Place and period | Measure | Adults reporting it |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland, 2025 | Regular social involvement in sport | 47% (2.04 million) |
| Ireland, 2025 | Sports club membership | 37% (1.61 million) |
| Ireland, 2023 | Sports club membership | 35% |
| Northern Ireland, 2024/25 | Club or organisation membership within the previous year | 25% |
Sources: Sport Ireland, Irish Sports Monitor 2025; NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25](https://datavis.nisra.gov.uk/communities/experience-of-sport-by-adults-in-northern-ireland-202425.html)
Community sport participation statistics: participation gaps by disability, income, age and gender
Northern Ireland’s 2024/25 figures show that participation rates varied by disability, area deprivation and sex. Among adults who had participated in sport at least once within the last year, the reported rate was 33% for adults with a disability and 59% for those without a disability. For the shorter previous-four-weeks period, the corresponding rates were 26% and 51%. Club membership was 15% among adults with a disability and 29% among adults without a disability. The annual and recent-period measures answer different questions: an adult may have participated at some point in a year without having done so in the previous 4 weeks. Source: NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25
| Northern Ireland, 2024/25 | At least once in previous year | Within previous 4 weeks | Sports club members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adults with a disability | 33% | 26% | 15% |
| Adults without a disability | 59% | 51% | 29% |
The report also compares adults in the most and least deprived areas. Annual sport participation was 43% in the most deprived areas and 65% in the least deprived. For the previous 4 weeks, it was 36% and 56%, respectively. Sports club membership was 16% in the most deprived areas and 34% in the least deprived. These are area-level deprivation groupings, rather than household income figures, so they should not be described as a direct comparison by personal income. Source: NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25
By sex, annual participation in Northern Ireland was 59% for males and 43% for females in 2024/25. The previous-four-weeks rates were 50% for males and 36% for females. Sports club membership was 29% for males and 20% for females. The figures show differences across each of these specific measures; they do not explain why those differences occurred. Source: NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25
Community sport participation statistics: local and regional differences in participation
Within Northern Ireland, annual participation was 52% among urban adults and 49% among rural adults in 2024/25. Using the previous-four-weeks measure, rates were 45% in urban areas and 40% in rural areas. Sports club membership was 26% among urban adults and 22% among rural adults. The difference between annual and recent participation reflects the time window used in each measure; neither rate describes how often people participated throughout the year. Source: NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25
| Northern Ireland, 2024/25 | Urban adults | Rural adults |
|---|---|---|
| Sport participation at least once in previous year | 52% | 49% |
| Sport participation within previous 4 weeks | 45% | 40% |
| Sports club membership | 26% | 22% |
Rates also differed among the local government districts included in the checked figures. Annual sport participation was 65% in Lisburn and Castlereagh, 63% in Ards and North Down, 56% in Belfast, and 38% in Derry City and Strabane in 2024/25. These figures show variation across named districts, but they do not identify local causes or describe every district. Source: NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25
Community sport participation: organised sport, informal activity and participation settings
Club settings encompass a range of activities. In Northern Ireland in 2024/25, keep fit, aerobics, yoga, dance exercise or weight training accounted for 40% of sports played in a club or organisation. Golf or pitch and putt accounted for 14%; Gaelic games, including football, hurling and camogie, accounted for 11%; and swimming or diving also accounted for 11%. These are shares of sports played through clubs or organisations, not percentages of all adults or of all sport participation. Source: NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25
The data also records adult involvement in supporting sport. In Northern Ireland, 4% of adults were involved in sports coaching in 2024/25, 2% were sport administrators or non-coaching volunteers, and 1% were sport development practitioners. These categories describe different roles; the figures should not be added together as a count of unique adults because the checked results do not say whether people could hold more than 1 role. Source: NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25
Community sport participation: volunteering and roles that sustain clubs
Regular volunteering is one measure of how adults contribute to sport beyond membership or participation. In Ireland, 11% of adults aged 16 and older, or 0.49 million people, volunteered for sport weekly in 2025. The equivalent reported figures were 12%, or 0.50 million, in 2024 and 11%, or 0.41 million, in 2017. The percentage and population count are both included because the source reports each; they represent different ways to express the survey results. Source: Sport Ireland, Irish Sports Monitor 2025
| Ireland | Weekly sports volunteering | Adults |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 11% | 0.41 million |
| 2024 | 12% | 0.50 million |
| 2025 | 11% | 0.49 million |
Source: Sport Ireland, Irish Sports Monitor 2025
Attendance at sporting events is another form of social involvement. In Ireland, 19% of adults, or 0.81 million, attended sporting events weekly in 2025. The reported weekly attendance figures were 20%, or 0.86 million, in 2024 and 19%, or 0.69 million, in 2017. Attendance and volunteering are distinct activities, and neither is the same as taking part in sport. Together with club membership, they make up the components of Sport Ireland’s social-participation measure described above. Source: Sport Ireland, Irish Sports Monitor 2025
Community sport participation: activity choices and wellbeing
Sport participation rates are also reported in different national contexts. In Canada, 55% of people aged 15 and older said they had participated in at least 1 sport during the previous 12 months in 2023. By sex, the reported rates were 62% for men and 49% for women. Among named population groups, participation was 62% for Korean Canadians, 62% for Chinese Canadians and 60% for Arab Canadians. These are survey results from 2023, published in an infographic dated March 5, 2024; they are not current-year estimates. Source: Statistics Canada, Sports: More than just a game
The Canadian infographic reported 66% participation among racialized non-immigrants and 48% among racialized immigrants. It also listed reasons for sport participation among sports participants aged 15 and older: physical health and fitness was cited by 82%, fun, recreation and relaxation by 70%, and mental health benefits by 65%. The percentages for reasons describe participants’ reported motivations, rather than the share of all Canadians. Source: Statistics Canada, Sports: More than just a game
Northern Ireland’s 2024/25 survey asked adults who had participated in sport or physical activity during the last year about benefits. In this group, 73% cited improved physical health, 72% keeping fit, and 69% improved mental health. Other cited benefits were having fun (41%), feeling better about themselves (37%) and losing weight (29%). Only 3% of adults who had participated said they had experienced no benefits. These are reported benefits among participants, not evidence that participation caused a particular health or wellbeing outcome. Source: NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25
The same Northern Ireland report gives an estimated mean life satisfaction score of 8.0 among adults engaged in sport, compared with 7.5 among adults not engaged. Here, engagement means participation at least once in the last 12 months, excluding recreational walking; the scale runs from 0 to 10. The comparison describes group averages for 2024/25 and does not establish that sport engagement accounts for the difference. Source: NISRA, Experience of sport by adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2024/25