4147.4.55.001 - Culture and Recreation News, Sep 2009  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/09/2009   
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THE SPORTS COMPENDIUM

A new edition of the Sports Compendium, officially known as Sports and Physical Recreation: A Statistical Overview (cat. no. 4156.0) will be released on October 23, 2009. The Compendium provides a statistical overview of sports and physical recreation in Australia. Topics covered include time spent on sport and recreation; output of the sports and physical recreation sector; employment in sport and physical recreation; government outlays on recreation; international trade in sporting and physical recreation goods; attendances at sporting events; and participation in sports and physical recreation activities.

This edition includes new data on the following topics: international trade in sporting and physical recreation goods; engineering construction activity of sports and physical recreation activities; average weekly earnings of persons employed in sports and physical recreation industries; participation in exercise; toy and sporting good manufacturing; sport and social capital; and volunteers in sport.

Some key findings from ABS sources include:

  • The 2007-08 National Health Survey found that 65% of persons aged 15 years and over exercised for fitness, recreation or sport during the two weeks prior to interview.
  • The General Social Survey found that over 5.2 million people or 34% of the adult population aged 18 years and over participated in voluntary work in 2006. Sport and physical recreation organisations attracted the largest number of volunteers with 1.7 million people (11% of the population).
  • According to the 2006 General Social Survey, the participation rate in sport and physical recreation was highest for those whose work commitments allowed them to also meet other family and community responsibilities (73%).