62% of Poles are physically active and 48% do sports at least once a week – revels the first edition of the MultiSport Index report on society's physical and sports activity. The most popular type of activity is running and the most active people live in the Lubuskie Voivodeship and Warsaw. This comprehensive study was developed by Benefit Systems in cooperation with Kantar TNS.
- When developing MultiSport Index 2018, we asked Poles several questions about activities and motivations in this regard. It is very important for us to make physical activity one of key topics of social debate, because it is a determinant of Poles' health and quality of life - said Adam Radzki, a Member of the Management Board of Benefit Systems.
In Poland, there is a growing group of people who undertake physical activity at least 3 times a week (30%), while the number of people doing sports dropped slightly (from 50% in 2017 to 48% in 2018).
- It is still not enough – comments dr Janusz Dobosz , the National Physical Activity Research Centre. - The WHO determines minimum physical activity by using the 3x30x130 principle – minimum three times a week, 30 minutes each, a heart rate of 130 beats a minute. This WHO's criterion is met by only 30% of respondents – says the expert.
The report answers the question of what determinants of physical activity are. Place of residence is one of them. Doing sports is the domain of large citieswhich is, among others, due to their extensive infrastructure. The results differ significantly between voivodeships. The largest share of people doing sports at least once a week is reported in Lubuskie (57%), Śląskie (56%) and Mazowieckie (54%) voivodeships. However, the lowest share is reported in: Warmińsko-Mazurskie (only 34%), Zachodniopomorskie and Podkarpackie (38% each) voivodeships.
Poles are most keen on training in the evening. Health (45%) and relax (31%) motivate us to do sports. Only 14% of the active population does it mainly to look better. Age is the most discouraging factor when it comes to activity – the non-active population is dominated by pensioners. Having analysed the results of the MultiSport Index study, we could also distinguish 4 segments of physically active Poles ("Recreation!”, "Stay FIT!", "Team mates" and "Pro-amateur") characterised by different motivations, health and dietary approaches, and sports-related needs. The largest segment is "Recreation" (7.4 million people) training for health, and most often choosing biking and gymnastics.
- The report is a treasury of information on sports activity of the residents of Poland. We managed to achieve this thanks to a very broad research project. It allowed us not only get the full "sports" picture of Poles, but also the specifics of individual regions and voivodeships – commented Grzegorz Ostrowski, Kantar TNS.
Multisport Index also addresses the relation between finance and activity. Two-thirds of people using sports facilities pay for them, over half of whom (59%) are subscribers or season ticket holders. As much as 40% of them pay over PLN 100 a month for using sports infrastructure. Nearly one-fifth (16%) of gym, swimming pool or fitness club goers hold MultiSport cards.
- At present, nearly one million employees in Poland use the MultiSport Programme and half of them did not go to sports facilities before receiving the card. It is also important that 78% of the holders declare that they train more often thanks to their MultiSport card. We feel responsible for taking further actions to activate Poles and to support social education in this regard – said Radzki.
The survey was conducted at the beginning of this year and covered about 1 800 Poles. It will be continued cyclically in the following years. The full report is available HERE.
Contact for media:
Jolanta Jędrysek, PR&Promotion Manager, j.jedrysek@benefitsystems.pl, tel. 519312964
Benefit Systems S.A., Plac Europejski 2, 00-844 Warszawa
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MultiSport Index is Poland's first comprehensive study on physical activity (at least once a month) and sports activity (regular physical activity at least once a week – therefore, the calculations do not cover recreational activities, such as biking as a means of transport or walking) of Poles enriched with data on individual voivodeships (and even districts in the case of Warsaw). The report was developed in cooperation with Kantar TNS.
Benefit Systems has operated on the Polish market since 2001. The company developed the MultiSport sports and recreational programme to support an active and healthy lifestyle of its users. The sports cards provide access to nearly 4 000 sports and recreational facilities in over 650 cities throughout the country. The company successfully develops its sports offer on foreign markets as well. An important area of Benefit Systems' actions is to promote an active lifestyle at every stage of life which is why the company implements initiatives to support physical activity of children, adults and seniors.
Kantar TNS Kantar TNS uses its broad expertise and market-leading solutions to advise its clients on innovation, brand image, communication and client relations. It helps its clients find and take key opportunities having a significant impact on business growth. Kantar TNS operates in over 90 countries worldwide. It belongs to the Kantar Group – one of the world's largest organisations dealing with market research, insight provision and consulting.