Brussels – It’s a well-known fact: sport is good for your health, and it seems that young people in the European Union have realised this. According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, in 2025, 73.1 per cent of people aged between 16 and 29 in the EU engaged in physical activity at least once a week, while the proportion amongst the total EU population – everyone aged 16 and over – stood at 61.6 per cent. The most marked differences were found amongst young people who take part in sport several times a week. The data show that 18.3 per cent of young people engage in physical activity between four and six times a week, compared with 12.8 per cent of the total EU population. The proportion of those who engage in physical activity at least once a day was almost identical across the different age groups: 20.9 per cent among young people and 20.2 per cent in the overall population. Only 16.3 per cent of young people reported never engaging in physical activity, compared with 26.0 per cent of the total population.
Eurostat highlights that men were more likely to engage in regular physical activity: 20.6 per cent of them remained active 4–6 times a week, compared with 16 per cent of young women. At the same time, 17.8 per cent of women aged between 16 and 29 reported not engaging in any physical activity outside work, compared with 14.9 per cent of men in the same age group. Looking at individual Member States, the highest percentages of young people who reported not engaging in physical activity outside work were recorded in Malta (31 per cent), in Portugal (28.5 per cent), and in Bulgaria (28.4 per cent). By contrast, the figures were below 3 per cent in Greece, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands. Italy ranked in the middle, with a figure of 22.1 per cent.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
