Active Lives data shows London's activity levels remain above national average

New Sport England figures show that nearly two thirds (64.4%) of Londoners are now physically active, an increase of 0.8 per cent on data from the previous 12-month period.

Findings from this morning’s Active Lives data show that in London, just over 4.5m people (64.4%) are meeting the Chief Medical Officers (CMO) guidelines of at least 150 minutes of physical activity every week.

The percentage of people considered fairly active – completing 30-149 minutes per week – in London fell by one per cent in the past year while the number of inactive Londoners remained the same (24.3%).

London (64.4%) outperforms the national average (63.2%) and is also ahead of some of the UK’s other major cities, including Manchester (61.2%) and Birmingham (58.6%), in terms of percentage of people who are active.

Beneath headline figures, though, a more complicated picture emerges which reinforces the importance of effective local working in ensuring Londoners from all parts of the capital are experiencing the benefits of increases in overall physical activity levels.

At a local level, there were significant increases in the percentage of people meeting the CMO guidelines with Wandsworth recording an 8.9% increase in physical activity levels in the past 12 months.

In total, 79.2% of residents in the borough complete 150 minutes or more of activity a week with Islington (74.8%), Richmond (73.6%) and City of London (73.5%) not far behind.

Other regions recorded a decrease in physical activity levels, with Newham and Croydon both recording decreases in the percentage of residents reaching recommended physical activity levels.

Since 2015, Wandsworth (9.3%), Kingston upon Thames (8.6%), Kensington and Chelsea (7.9%) and Barnet (7.2%) have all seen sharp increases in the number of active people.

Since the Active Lives data begun in 2015, one million more people have got active across the country with the total figure reaching 28.6m people nationwide for the first time.

The number of inactive people – doing fewer than 30 minutes of physical activity per week – is down to 11.2 million, a decrease of 131,700 since 2015 and the lowest figure ever recorded by the survey.

London Sport will continue to interrogate the Active Lives data to inform our efforts across the capital and the support which we provide to all 33 Local Authorities.

The findings were drawn from the release of Sport England’s Active Lives Survey Adult May 2018/19 Data which can be accessed here.