Statistics


Sport and Recreation Victoria actively researches what is happening in the sport and recreation sector and funds the Australian Bureau of Statistics and other organisations to produce the necessary data. If you have a query about sport and recreation, please contact us. The following provides an indication of the information available:

The latest data from Link opens new window Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Link page opens new window Australian Sports Commission (ASC) shows that Victoria continues to lead the rest of Australia in the sports sector.

For example:
  • In 2000, 8.8% of Victorian adults were volunteers for sport, compared to 8.1% across the rest of Australia (ABS).
  • In 2002, 52% of adult Victorians attended a sporting fixture compared to 47% of those who live outside Victoria (ABS).
  • In 2003, 85% of Victorians aged 15 or over took part in sport and recreation, compared to 82% across the rest of the country (ASC).
  • In 2003, 45% of Victorians aged 15 years or over took part in sport and recreation that was organised by a club, association or business, compared to 42% elsewhere in Australia (ASC).
  • In 2003, 65% of Victorian children aged 5 to 14 took part in organized sport outside school. Across the rest of Australia only 61% of children participated (ABS).

Participation Rates


The following spreadsheets compare Victoria with the rest of Australia where possible. They contain data on participation rates for children aged between 5 and 14 years, and people aged 15 years and over.

A comparison of participation in selected activities by age (under 15) and sex (Excel 14.5kb) (ABS)
A comparison of participation in selected activities for men and women over 15 years (Excel 15.5kb) (ASC)
Information on participation in organised sport outside of school hours, by people under 15 (Excel 15kb) (ABS)
A comparison of sports that under 15s play in Victoria versus the rest of Australia (Excel 13.5kb) (ABS)
A comparison of participation rates in Victoria versus the rest of Australia, for people over 15 (Excel 13.5kb) (ASC)

References are also available on the publications page.


This page contains downloadable documents. In order to view PDF documents you will require new window icon Adobe Reader. To view other file types such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and ZIP, other tools may be required.

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