Which EU Country Exercises the Most?

Key Takeaways

• Finland ranks first in the EU for weekly sport participation. Its weekly sport participation rate of 71% is nearly double the EU27 average of 38%.
• Romania ranks last in the EU for weekly sport participation. Its weekly sport participation rate of 20% is roughly a third of Finland’s.
• EU countries with long-standing voluntary sports clubs report the highest sport participation. 
• EU countries with weaker civic traditions and legacies of state-run sport programs report the lowest.

Weekly Sport Participation Rates Across EU Countries

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Learn something new about Germany every week and make informed decisions with confidence.

Finland Ranks First in the EU for Weekly Sport Participation

Finland recorded the EU’s highest weekly sport participation rate in 2022. Its rate reached 71%.

Finland’s own exercise culture traces back more than a century. Sports clubs and gymnastics associations spread nationwide in the late 1800s. Gymnastics became part of the school curriculum soon after.

Finnish municipalities began building swimming halls, jogging tracks, and sports fields nationwide in the 1970s. Public authorities still fund bike paths, jogging trails, and fitness centers today.

Six more EU countries exceed 50% weekly sport participation. The range runs from Luxembourg at 63% down to Slovenia at 52%.

Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark also top a different question in the same survey. It asks how much opportunity people have to be active close to home.

Over 89% of respondents in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark say their area offers them many chances to stay active. That is the highest weekly sport participation share in the EU.

EU Sports Participation Traces to Civic Tradition

Government sports spending barely predicts who exercises across the EU. Spending as a share of a country’s budget shows almost no statistical relationship with sport participation rates.

Eastern and Southern European countries spend a higher budget share on sport than Northern and Western Europe. However, they still report lower participation.

The divide in sport participation traces to civic tradition instead of money. Northern and Western European countries built strong voluntary sports clubs generations ago.

Voluntary sports clubs built local habit and identity around sport. That history now shows up as higher sport participation.

However, Eastern and Southern European countries have weaker civic traditions and a legacy of state-run sport programs. Governments ran these sport programs instead of voluntary sports clubs.

State-run sport programs came from the top down. They didn’t stick the same way.

Romania, Bulgaria, and Portugal Report the EU’s Lowest Exercise Rates

Romania ranks last in the EU for weekly sport participation. Its rate is roughly a third of Finland’s.

Three countries report the lowest weekly sport participation rates in the EU:

• Romania: 20%
• Bulgaria: 21%
• Portugal: 22%

Romania and Bulgaria both spent decades under state-run sport programs instead of voluntary sports clubs. A weaker civic tradition explains their position at the bottom of the EU’s weekly sport participation ranking.

Portugal’s story is different. Its median age reached 46.8 in 2022. That is the EU’s second-highest ranking for weekly sport participation.

Weekly sport participation falls with age across the EU. It drops from 66% among 15-to-24-year-olds to 26% among those 55 and older. This decline in weekly sport participation with age helps explain Portugal’s low rate.

Closing the gap between Romania’s 20% weekly participation rate and Finland’s 71% wouldn’t just change a ranking. Closing the gap between the EU’s lowest and highest weekly participation rates may also close the health and cost burden that inactivity already places on the EU.