13. Non participation in sport increasing

View the most recent version.

Most Canadians are preoccupied with a lot of things in their daily lives so much so that leisure time, including time for sport participation must be planned for well in advance¹⁶. With earning a living, household chores and taking care of families, Canadians tend to have little time for leisure¹⁷. Perhaps this partly explains why more than 70% of the population age 15 and over did not participate in sports in 2005, up from 58% in 1998. In 1992, less than half of the population were non-participants. Other major reasons cited for non participation included lack of interest, health condition and age.

According to the 2005 General Social Survey, Canadians spent an average of 30 minutes a day on active sport. The rest of the day was spent working (paid and unpaid work), participating in civic and voluntary activities, sleeping, having meals, socializing, reading, surfing the Internet, watching television, going to the movies and participating in other entertainment activities. In 1992, Canadians spent, on average, 430 minutes (7.2 hours) on work and work related activities in a typical workday. In 1998, this figure had climbed to 468 minutes (7.8 hours) and by 2005, it had reached 474 minutes (7.9 hours).

Chart 22
Reasons for non-participation in sport, 2005

13.1 Reason for non participation: Men lacked time and women lacked interest

Reasons for non participation in sport cited by adult Canadians aged 15 and older differ by sex and age. For men, lack of time was the primary reason for non participation in sport with 34% of them indicating this to be the case in 2005, followed by lack of interest (23%). The reverse was the case for women with 28% citing lack of interest as the main reason for not participating, followed closely by lack of time (26%).

Chart 23
Average time per day spent on various activities, 2005

Overall, 30% of all non-active Canadians reported lack of time as the reason for not participating in sport. For 25 to 34 year olds the significance of this reason jumped to 45%. This cohort was probably busy raising young families and pursuing careers. For the 35 to 54 year olds, the proportion had dropped to 38%. The 19 to 24 year olds followed with 35%.

For older non-active Canadians aged 55 and over, 28% indicated that age was the biggest factor for not participating in sport. Almost a quarter of them reported health conditions as the most important reason for non participation. Another quarter of this group cited lack of interest in sport.

Those non-participants who gave lack of time as the reason for not participating in sport had less free time, worked more hours and spent less time on sleep, meals and other personal care than those who gave other reasons. For example, the non-participants who gave lack of time as the reason for not participating in sport spent almost twice as much time (5.5 hours) on paid work as other non-participants (3.0 hours). They also watched less television, socialized less and spent less time reading books, magazines and newspapers than other non-participants.

Chart 24
Average time spent per day on various activities, by reason for non participation in sports, 2005

Table 20
Average time spent per day¹ on various activities (population 15 years and older) by sport participation, 2005²

Table 21
Average time spent per day¹ on various activities (population 15 years and older) by sport participants by age, 2005²

Table 22
Average time spent per day¹ on various activities (population 15 years and older) by sport participants by family income, 2005²

Table 23
Average time spent per day¹ on various activities (population 15 years and older) by sport participants by province, 2005²

Table 24
Reasons for non-participation in sport by age, 2005

Table 25
Average time spent per day¹ on various activities by reasons for non-participation in sport, 2005²

Table 26
Average time spent per day¹ on various activities by non-participation in sport due to lack of time, by age group, 2005²