People in Sunderland taking more exercise than others in the region
People in Sunderland are more active than the average person in the North East, new figures suggest.
Sport England said its annual Active Lives survey shows two million more people are taking exercise regularly compared to
2016 – but longstanding inequalities remain, with those living in less well-off areas still less likely to be active.
The figures show 62% of 501 respondents in the city said they were active in the year to November – exercising for more than two and a half hours a week.
That was slightly down on the 63% the year before but still the best rate in the North East, where 60% of people say they regularly undertake physical activities.
The figures also show 10% of people in Sunderland say they were ‘fairly active’ - exercising for between 30 and 149 minutes a week.
Meanwhile, 28% said they were inactive – down from 29% in 2022 and from 31% in 2015-16.
The data shows that
29.5 million people in England are meeting the national guidelines of doing 150 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity a week – that is 63% of the country’s adult population.
The Institute for Public Policy Research says the data points to a “growing divide in activity levels based on where someone lives”.
Stephen Frost, principal research fellow at the think tank, said: “A third of people in the most deprived neighbourhoods are considered inactive compared to a fifth of those in the least deprived.
“The number of people considered active in the most deprived areas has dropped by 2.5% in the last seven years.”
He added: “Across the regions we are seeing some signs of growth in physical activity but generally only in the places that were already doing well – while the North East and West Midlands have seen barely any change in the numbers of active people in the last seven years.
“If anything speaks to the failure of levelling up it is the inability to address these inequalities.”
Tim Hollingsworth, chief executive of Sport England, said the data appears to show that people’s ability or willingness to take more exercise appears to be dependent on their “bank balance or postcode”.
He said: “Through intelligent and targeted investment it is possible to increase activity levels and impact positively on people’s lives.
“At the moment, how likely you are to be active depends too much on your bank balance and your postcode."
Mr Hollingsworth added: “That’s why we will continue to target our investment in places where it can make the biggest difference and on the groups who have most to gain from it.”
Cllr Liz Green, chair of the Local Government Association’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, said physical inactivity has a detrimental impact on personal health, and that of the wider economy.
She said: “We need to tackle the inequalities within our communities which affect access to adults based on their location, wealth, age, ethnicity and gender.
She said access to public leisure centres and green spaces is key to get more adults active.