Nearly 44% of Poland’s population takes part in sports or recreational physical activity—almost 5 percentage points more than four years earlier. At the same time, spending on physical activity is rising rapidly. In 2025, households that incurred such expenses spent an average of PLN 3,308, over 80% more than in 2021. However, data from Statistics Poland reveal clear disparities: entrepreneurs and office workers exercise much more frequently than people relying on casual work and those performing physically demanding jobs.
These are the findings of the sixth edition of Statistics Poland’s survey “Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation”, conducted every four years among randomly selected households (previous editions: 1999, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2021). The reference period for this edition covered twelve months, from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025.
Education and employment status divide Poles more than age
Participation in sport rises markedly with education level. Among people with higher education, 61.4% reported being physically active, compared with 50.7% in 2021. Among those with basic vocational or sectoral vocational education, the figure was only 20.6%. This represents a threefold difference between the two extreme groups.
An even wider gap emerges when respondents are grouped by their main source of income. Among people permanently self-employed, 55.6% were physically active, including 32.9% who exercised regularly. The rate among permanent employees was 49.4%. The picture was entirely different for people in casual paid work: only 9.2% participated in sport, six times fewer than among those running their own business.
Statistics Poland’s data do not explain the reasons for this difference, but it is large enough to be difficult to attribute solely to personal preferences. Irregular working hours, less predictable income and less freedom to plan leisure time, all typical of casual work, are more likely contributing factors.
Office work is associated with more sporting activity than manual work
The analysis of working conditions produces a surprising conclusion. People in sedentary jobs that do not require physical effort are the most likely of all occupational groups to take part in sport: 61.0% exercise regularly or occasionally, up from 51.4% in 2021, an increase of almost 10 percentage points. Among people whose jobs require physical effort, the rate is only 39.0%, falling to 35.7% for jobs involving intense physical exertion.
In other words, manual work does not replace sport as a form of activity. On the contrary, it is associated with lower participation. Almost 40% of manual workers and 64.3% of people working under conditions of intense physical exertion do not participate in any sport or physical recreation, even though their work itself involves physical effort.
Physical activity declines with age, but not evenly
Children aged 5–9 are the most active age group: 68.4% participated in sport or physical recreation and 56.8% did so regularly. Participation also exceeded 60% among those aged 10–14 and 15–19. A clear decline begins during working age: 57.2% of people aged 20–29 were active, representing the largest increase compared with the previous edition, at 10 percentage points. The rate was 51.3% among those aged 30–39 and 46.3% among those aged 40–49. Among people aged 50–59, 37.3% were active, while the figure for those aged 60 and over was only 21.9%, with just 9.8% exercising regularly.
Marital status also differentiates participation. Single men and women are the most active group, at 52.5%, including 27.5% exercising regularly. Widowed people are the least active, at 18.1%, including 9.0% exercising regularly, which largely reflects the age structure of these groups.
Urban versus rural areas
Physical activity was reported by 48.3% of urban residents, including 59.8% in cities with at least 500,000 inhabitants, and by 36.6% of rural residents. The respective shares exercising regularly were 26.6% and 17.1%. Compared with the previous survey edition, participation increased in both groups: by 5.1 percentage points in urban areas and 4.8 points in rural areas. However, the rise in regular participation was slightly stronger in rural areas, at 2.5 percentage points compared with 2.3 points in cities.
The sports and activities most popular among Poles
Cycling remains the clear leader, practised by 25.9% of all respondents and 59.3% of physically active people. Swimming ranked second, at 15.1% of all respondents and 34.6% of active people. General fitness activities such as recreational walking, skipping rope and stationary cycling placed third, at 9.5% of all respondents. Aerobics, fitness and gymnastics also ranked highly, at 7.8%, followed by football at 6.3%.
The distribution varies by sex. In addition to cycling, reported by 24.7%, and swimming, at 13.8%, women most often selected aerobics, fitness and gymnastics, at 12.7%. Among men, cycling ranked first at 27.2% and swimming second at 16.5%, followed by football at 12.3%. Compared with 2021, aerobics and fitness recorded the strongest gain in popularity, up 2.1 percentage points, followed by swimming, up 1.8 points. General fitness activities declined by 0.4 points.
Competitions, events and sports camps
A total of 8.8% of respondents took part in sports competitions or physical recreation events, including 10.1% of men and 7.5% of women. Among people exercising regularly, the share rose to 12.5%. Football competitions were the most popular, accounting for 18.8% of participants, followed by cycling competitions and events at 12.3%, volleyball at 7.5% and swimming at 6.8%. Men most often competed in football, at 31.5%, while women most frequently participated in dance competitions, at 14.0%.
Sports or sport-and-recreation camps were attended by 2.9% of physically active people, up from 2.2% in 2021. Young people aged up to 19 accounted for 84.1% of camp participants. Football camps remained the most popular, representing 29.2% of all camps reported, followed by volleyball camps at 14.1%. Horse-riding camps and aerobics, fitness or gymnastics camps each accounted for 10.5%.
The fitness paradox: more people exercise, but self-assessed fitness deteriorates
Despite the increase in the proportion of physically active people, respondents’ subjective assessment of their own fitness deteriorated. In 2025, 64.4% described their fitness as good or very good, compared with 65.7% in 2021. At the same time, the share rating their fitness as poor or very poor rose from 7.9% to 8.9%. Men assessed their fitness more positively than women: 68.4% of men described it as good or very good, compared with 60.7% of women.
Sports equipment and household expenditure
In 2025, 83.7% of households owned sports equipment, 1.3 percentage points fewer than in 2021. Bicycles remained by far the most common item, owned by nearly 80% of households, compared with 79.2% in 2021 and 72.2% in 2016. Electric bicycles accounted for 3.6% of all bicycles. Balls used in team sports were also common, owned by 34.4% of households, as were sledges, at 28.0%. Equipment for more expensive sports remained rare: diving equipment and table-tennis tables were each owned by 2.5% of households, climbing equipment by 1.8%, and windsurfing or kitesurfing equipment by 1.2%.
In 2025, 48.2% of households incurred expenditure on sport and recreation, 8.6 percentage points more than four years earlier. Among households that actually incurred such costs, average expenditure rose from PLN 1,807 in 2021 to PLN 3,308 in 2025, an increase of more than 80%.
| Expenditure category | Average amount per household incurring the cost (2025) | 2021 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participation in sports and physical recreation activities | PLN 3,190 | PLN 1,897 | +68% |
| Sports and sport-and-recreation camps | PLN 2,781 | PLN 1,358 | +105% |
| Sportswear | PLN 727 | PLN 509 | +43% |
| Equipment rental and maintenance | PLN 445 | PLN 397 | +12% |
Expenditure increased in both urban and rural areas, while the gap between them narrowed significantly. Urban households spent an average of PLN 1,605 on sport, compared with PLN 829 in 2021, while rural households spent PLN 1,571, up from just PLN 482. A total of 20.0% of households purchased sports equipment, spending an average of PLN 279, more than 80% above the 2021 level. The largest amount, PLN 132, was spent on bicycles, including PLN 45 on electric bicycles.
Why Poles do—and do not—participate in sport
Enjoyment and entertainment remain the main reasons for taking part in sport, cited by 63.1% of respondents, compared with 65.0% in 2021 and 58.5% in 2016. Maintaining physical fitness and body shape ranked second, at 41.8%. Around one in three Poles cited health or a doctor’s recommendation, with women doing so more often than men, at 32.6% compared with 28.2%.
Lack of free time is the leading reason for inactivity, cited by 32.6% of people who do not exercise, up from 29.9% in 2021. It was reported more often by men than women, at 35.4% and 30.3%, respectively. Lack of interest or a preference for passive leisure ranked second, at 22.6%. The largest increase concerned people who did not exercise because of health problems or medical contraindications: their share rose from 10.8% in 2021 to 16.3% in 2025. Age became a slightly less important barrier, cited by 14.5% compared with 17.1% in 2021. Among children and teenagers, lack of interest dominated, reaching 43.1% among those aged 15–19. Among adults, lack of time was the main obstacle, peaking at 64.1% in the 30–39 age group.
Physical activity among people with disabilities
In 2025, people with disabilities accounted for 6.3% of all household members, compared with 5.5% in 2021. Households including at least one person with a disability represented 15.7% of the total, an increase of 2.6 percentage points. Participation in sport or physical recreation among people with disabilities reached 23.1%, up from 18.4% in 2021, while 13.4% participated regularly, compared with 7.7% four years earlier. This was a clear improvement, although still well below the population average of 43.7%.
Participation depends strongly on the degree of disability. Among children with a disability certificate, 36.5% were active, although this was down from 57.7% in 2021. The participation rate was 12.6% among people with a mild degree of disability, 34.3% among those with a moderate degree and only 8.3% among those with a severe degree. Health remained the main barrier for more than 60% of people with certified disabilities. Among those with a severe degree of disability, it was cited by 83.6% of men and 76.5% of women. As in the general population, cycling was the most popular activity among people with disabilities, at 42.8%.
Source: Statistics Poland and the Statistical Office in Rzeszów (Centre for Sport and Tourism Statistics), “Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation in 2025”, Rzeszów–Warsaw, July 2026. Sixth edition of a survey conducted every four years among randomly selected households; reference period: 1 October 2024–30 September 2025. Own analysis based on the Statistics Poland publication and source tables.
