Almost 60 percent of EU citizens don’t exercise or play sport, or only do so rarely, while 41 percent exercise once a week, according to the latest Eurobarometer report on sport and physical activity.

In Romania, only 6 percent of the respondents said they exercise and play sports regularly (at least 5 time a week), while 15 percent do it with some regularity.

Respondents from Nordic countries are the most likely to play sport or exercise on a regular basis. 70 percent of the respondents from Sweden exercises or play sport at least once a week, while in Denmark the proportion is 68 percent.

On the other hand, Bulgaria (78 percent) and Malta (75 percent) have large proportion of respondents who never exercise or play sport at all, being followed by Portugal (64 percent), Romania and Italy (60 percent each).

The proportion engaging in sport or physical activity in a park and outdoors is particularly high in Finland, Slovenia, Sweden, Austria, Spain and Denmark. The lowest proportions are in Hungary (16 percent) and Romania (19 percent).

However, sport and physical activity at home is popular in Eastern European countries, finds the report. The highest figures are in Lithuania (63 percent), Slovakia (54 percent), Slovenia (54 percent), Romania (53 percent), Bulgaria (52 percent) and Hungary (51 percent).

The report also shows that the lowest figures for use of health or fitness centers are in Lithuania, France, Latvia, Hungary, Slovenia and Romania.

Similarly, the figures for the use of sport centers are also low in Romania (2 percent), Hungary (3 percent) and Lithuania (3 percent), as well as in Portugal. Romania also has the lowest figure for use of sport clubs, with similarly low figures also in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Cyprus.

Lack of time is the most common reason for not practicing sport across the EU. On a country level, the proportions giving this answer are the highest in Malta (56 percent), Romania (53 percent), the Czech Republic (52 percent), Luxembourg and Sweden (50 percent each) and Cyprus (49 percent).

The entire Eurobarometer report here.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: sxc.hu)