Swimming participation figures on the up

17 March 2010

The number of people in England participating in swimming has increased by 57,500 from the last quarter according to Sport England's Active People survey.

Swimming remains the country's most popular participation sport with 7.63% (3,219,900) regularly getting in the pool.

The report, covering the period from January 2009-January 2010, shows that the number of people going to their local pools and swimming for 30 minutes or more at least once per week rose to over 3.2 million and is a positive step toward improving the nation's activity levels.

A significant increase in the number of people aged 55 and over was also seen in the report which comes on the heels of the government's Free Swimming scheme for the over 60s which launched in April 2009.

The number of males participating in swimming has increased in the past quarter, and the ASA is confident that initiatives are in place to soon see a similar rise in female participation rates.

Regionally the East Midlands and North West showed the highest increases in participation.

Anne Adams-King, director of English Programmes, said: "These figures show a positive rise in the popularity of swimming and the ASA is confident that these large numbers of leisure swimmers will continue to swim regularly and enjoy the sport for life."

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