An extra 85,000 Irish people a week are participating in sport, with 47.2% of the population now physically active.
The latest figures from the Irish Sports Council in their Irish Sports Monitor Annual Report (ISM) 2013 show weekly activity is up from 44.8% on the last survey two years ago.
The number of people who are not active is now just 1 in 10, with a further decline in the amount of people who are sedentary.
The most popular sporting activity overall is personal exercise like going to the gym, followed by swimming and running.
The number of women doing sport has risen by nearly 4%, compared to an extra 1% of men. There has been a 'notable rise in participation' among females in the 25-44 age bracket.
Research Director at Ipsos MRBI, Kieran O’Leary says for the first time, individual sport has proven more popular than football or other team sports:
The Sports Council's Chief Executive John Treacy says, "the increase in sports participation since the previous study is undoubtedly encouraging and is likely to be a result of a combination of factors, both in terms of sports policy and activities of Local Sports Partnerships as well as a continued focus on physical activity throughout the population”.
Sport and Tourism Minister of State Michael Ring said of the findings that "the value of participating in sport and physical activity cannot be underestimated; even small improvements in participation levels will confer health, social and economic benefits both for the individual and for society as a whole."
Image: Sports Council of Ireland
You can read the full Sports Council report here.
