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PARTICIPATION

• There were 10.5 million persons aged 15 years and over (65.9% of the adult population) who participated in physical activities for recreation, exercise or sport at some time during the 12 months prior to interview in 2005-06. Of these persons, 4.4 million (42%) participated in organised sports and physical recreation.
• The most popular physical recreation activity for both males and females was walking for exercise. However, the participation rate was much higher for females (33%) than it was for males (17%).
• There were 1.7 million children aged 5-14 years (63.5%) who participated in organised sport outside of school hours during the 12 months ending April 2006.
• The most popular organised sport for boys was soccer (outdoor) which had 268,500 participants (19.6%), whereas for girls it was netball with 225,700 participants (16.5%).

• There were 7.1 million persons aged 15 years and over (44.3% of the adult population) who attended at least one sports event during the 12 months prior to interview in 2005-06. A greater percentage of males (51.9%) attended at least one sports event than did females (36.9%).
• Australian Rules football and horse racing were the sports most attended by both males and females. Australian Rules was attended by 19.2% of males and 12.5% of females, while for horse racing the corresponding percentages were 13.8% and 11.2%.

• Australian households spent an average of $15.70 per week on selected sports and physical recreation products during 2003-04. The largest single component of this figure was $3.41 spent on swimming pools. This was followed by $2.30 spent on sports facility hire charges.
• The total expenditure by Australian households on selected sports and physical recreation products in 2003-04 was $6,332.5m. This was 1.8% of the amount Australian households spent on all products.

• There were 83,008 persons whose main job was in a sports and physical recreation occupation at the time of the 2001 census. This was 21.6% higher than the corresponding figure from the 1996 census.
• On average, persons in sports and physical recreation occupations were more likely to be working part-time and more likely to have a lower income than persons in the general working population.
• At the end of June 2005 there were 111,519 persons working for organisations mainly engaged in providing sports and physical recreation services. Of these persons, 46,552 were working for not-for-profit organisations and 11,051 for government organisations. The remainder were working for businesses aiming to make a profit.
• There were 1.8 million persons aged 18 years and over (12.1% of the adult population) who undertook voluntary work for sport, recreation and hobby organisations during the 12 months prior to interview in 2002. This was a greater number than for any other type of organisation. A greater percentage of males (15.1%) undertook voluntary work for sport, recreation and hobby organisations than did females (9.2%).

• Building work worth $585.5m was approved for sports and physical recreation buildings during 2005-06. Of this total, 58.1% was for the construction of new buildings.
• Engineering construction work worth $1,711.0m was done for recreation projects (including landscaping) during 2005-06. This followed work worth $1,656.6m in 2004-05 and $1,402.2m in 2003-04.
• There were 327 Indigenous communities with a population of 50 or more in 2001. Of these, 33.0% had no sporting facilities at all.

• The three levels of government provided a total of $2,124.2m in funding for sports and physical recreation in 2000-01. The majority of this (60.8%) went to fund Venues, grounds and facilities.
• The business sector provided funding of $628.0m to sports and physical recreation in 2000-01. Over three quarters of this (76.4%) was provided through sponsorship.

• In 2004-05 Sports and physical recreation clubs, teams and sports professionals had the highest total income ($1,884.1m) of all the sports and physical recreation industries mainly providing services. However, it was also one of the two sport industries which recorded the lowest profit / surplus margin for 2004-05 (3.7%), the other being Horse and dog racing (2.7%).
• The industry with the largest operating profit/surplus in 2004-05 was Other sports and physical recreation venues, grounds and facilities with $90.1m (8.1%).The next highest profit/surplus levels were recorded by Sports and physical recreation support services with $85.7m (14.7%).
• The total income of Toy and sporting good manufacturers in 2000-01 was $303.7m and operating profit was $40.2m (13.3%). Employment at the end of June was 2,386.
• The total income of Hospitality clubs in 2000-01 was $6,297.1m, of which 31.9% was contributed by those which were associated with sports or physical recreation. These Sports hospitality clubs had a similar share (30.5%) of the total Hospitality club operating surplus of $374.4m.
• The 23,530 persons employed by Sports hospitality clubs at the end of June 2001 were fairly evenly split between males and females, and between permanent and casual. Female employment was 50.8% of the total and casual employment was 51.1%.

• The total value of exports of selected sports and physical recreation goods in 2005-06 was $483.2m, 10.7% higher than for the previous year and the second successive increase.
• New Zealand and the United States of America were the two biggest export markets for Australian sports and physical recreation goods in 2005-06, between them accounting for 48.1% of the total.
• The total value of imports of selected sports and physical recreation goods rose by 15.8% to be $1,925.8m in 2005-06.
• China and the United States of America were the two major sources of sports and physical recreation goods imported into Australia in 2005-06, between them accounting for 55.0% of the total.
• Australia's largest trade deficit in selected sports and physical recreation goods in 2005-06 was $579.8m with China, while its largest surplus was $30.8m with New Zealand.