Experience of sport by young people in Northern Ireland

Findings from the Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey 2025

An Official Statistics publication
Published by: Analytics Division, Department for Communities
Contact: Analytics Division
Email:
Tel: 028 9082 3572
Coverage: Northern Ireland
Frequency: Triennial
Publication date: 12 November 2026

Main stories

  • In 2025, almost all young people in Northern Ireland (98%) had participated in sport or physical activity in the previous year, a similar proportion to those participating in 2022 (98%).

  • Boys were more likely to state that they enjoyed sport or physical activity a lot (72%) compared to girls (59%).

  • The most frequently cited benefits of having participated in sport or physical activity over the past 12 months were “have fun”, “keep fit”, “learned new skills/developed existing skills”, “improved mental health/ physical health” and “developed skills as a team player”.

  • Two-thirds (66%) of young people were a member of a team or club that involves taking part in sport or physical activity, with 41% being part of a school club or team and 47% being part of a club or team not connected with school.

  • Just under two-fifths (39%) of young people said they were very active and ate healthily, whilst 6% said they were not very active and did not eat healthily.

Introduction

The Department for Communities (DfC) is responsible for the central administration and promotion of sport in Northern Ireland. DfC provides funding for sport, develops sport policy and supports sports initiatives.

This report presents the findings from the 2025 Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey (YPBAS) in relation to the experience of sport by young people in Northern Ireland which are used to inform the development, monitoring and evaluation of policy. The YPBAS is a school-based survey carried out among 11-16 year olds and covers a wide range of topics relevant to the lives of young people today.

More information relating to YPBAS, methodology, definitions and the interpretation of the figures can be found in the in the Technical notes and Definitions sections. Data tables accompanying this publication and the questions that were asked in YPBAS 2025 are available on the DfC website.

Lead statistician: Clair Stewart

Participation in sport or physical activity

In 2025, almost all young people in Northern Ireland (98%) had taken part in sport or physical activity within the last year, the same as the figure for 2022. Just over nine in ten young people (92%) had taken part in the last week, a decrease on the 2022 figure (94%).


Boys were more likely than girls to have participated in sport within the last year (99% and 98%, respectively) and also within the last week (94% and 91%, respectively).

When looking at sport participation and school year group, pupils in Years 9 and 10 (both 99%) were more likely to have participated in sport in the last year compared to pupils in Year 12 (97%). The proportion of pupils that had participated in sport in the last week tended to decrease as the year group increased, with 96% in Year 9 compared to 88% in Year 12.


A slightly higher proportion of young people from the Catholic community (99%) participated in sport within the last year in comparison to those from the Protestant community (98%).

Young people who have a disability were less likely to have participated in sport within the last year (96%) or within the last week (88%) compared to those who do not have a disability (99% in the last year and 93% in the last week).


Young people who were entitled to free school meals were less likely than those who were not entitled to free school meals to have participated in sport over the last year (96% and 99% respectively) or within the last week (87% and 93%, respectively).

Types of sports activity

The most frequently cited sports activities that young people took part in within the last year were active games (55%), football (55%), jogging or running (51%), walking for exercise or hill walking (49%) and swimming or diving (48%). Football was the most popular sport cited by boys (74%), active games was the most popular sport cited by girls (67%).



Looking at participation in sport over the last week, the most frequently cited sports were football (37%), jogging or running (35%), walking for exercise or hill walking (34%), active games (25%), basketball/netball/volleyball (21%) and gaelic football (21%). The most popular sport for boys over the last week remained the same as over the last year, football (57%), however for girls the most popular sport over the last four weeks was walking for exercise/hill walking (43%).

Benefits of sport or physical activity

The most frequently cited benefits of having participated in sport or physical activity over the past 12 months were ‘have fun’ (77%), ‘keep fit’ (71%), ‘learned new skills or developed existing skills’ (70%), ‘improved mental health or physical health’ (58%) and ‘developed skills as a team player’ (56%).


Enjoyment of sport or physical activity

Two-thirds of young people (66%) said that they enjoyed doing sport or physical activity a lot, with just over a quarter (28%) stating that they enjoyed it a little and 6% stating that they did not enjoy sport or physical activity at all. Boys were more likely to state that they enjoyed sport or physical activity a lot (72%) compared to girls (59%). Pupils in Years 8 and 9 were more likely to have stated that they enjoyed doing sport or physical activity than year groups 10, 11 and 12.

Time spent doing sport or physical activity last week

When asked approximately how many minutes should be spent each day playing sport, doing physical activity or playing actively to make you out of breath or hot or sweaty, the majority of young people (76%) gave a response of 60 minutes or more per day, consistent with the Chief Medical Officers’ recommendations.

Young people were asked how many days have you played any sport, done any physical activity, or played actively that made you out of breath or hot and sweaty for a total of at least 60 minutes each day. A tenth (10%) of young people were involved in sport or physical activity for at least 60 minutes on each day of the last week. A greater proportion of boys (13%) achieved this than girls (6%) and when looking at year group, Year 8 pupils (13%) were more likely than older year groups to have done so.


At least 2 hours per week in sport or physical activity

Over two-fifths (45%) of young people normally took part in PE or games lessons during normal school hours for at least 2 hours each week. A similar proportion of young people (44%) had taken part in sport or physical activities at school outside normal school hours for at least 2 hours. Just over seven in ten (71%) had taken part in at least 2 hours of sport or physical activity not connected to school.

Boys were more likely than girls to have taken part in 2 hours or more of PE/games (52% and 37%, respectively), sport at school outside normal school hours (50% and 38%, respectively) or sport not connected to school (75% and 66%, respectively) each week.


The proportion of pupils that had participated in at least 2 hours of PE/games and sport at school outside normal school hours each week generally decreased as the year group increased.

Considering religious background, young people from the Catholic community (39%) were less likely to be involved in 2 hours or more of PE/games than those from the Protestant community (49%) or those of other or no religion (51%). However, young people from the Catholic community (73%) were more likely to be involved in at least 2 hours of sport or physical activity not connected to school than those from the Protestant community (68%) or those of other or no religion (67%).


Young people with a disability were less likely to have participated in at least 2 hours of PE/games (40%), sport at school outside normal school hours (37%) or sport not connected to school (63%) each week than young people who do not have a disability (46%, 45% and 72%, respectively).

Young people entitled to free school meals were less likely than those not entitled to free school meals to have took part in 2 hours or more each week of PE/games (41% and 46%, respectively) or sport/physical activity not connected to school (61% and 73%, respectively).

Member of a sports team or club

Two-thirds (66%) of young people said that they were a member of a team or club that involved them taking part in sport or physical activity. Around two-fifths (41%) of young people said they were part of a school club or team, whilst just under half (47%) said they were part of a club or team not connected with school.

Boys were more likely than girls to be a member of a school team or club (43% and 38%, respectively), whilst similar proportions of boys and girls were a member of a team or club not connected to school (48% and 47%, respectively).


Young people from the Catholic community (38%) were less likely to be a member of a school team or club than those of other or no religion (45%), whilst there was no significant difference compared to those from the Protestant community (42%). Young people from a Catholic community (51%) were more likely to be a member of a team or club outside of school compared to those from the Protestant community (43%) or those of other or no religion (44%).

Young people who have a disability were less likely than those who do not have a disability to be a member of a school team or club (27% and 43%, respectively) or a member of a team or club outside of school (41% and 48%, respectively).

Similarly, young people who are entitled to free school meals were less likely than those not entitled to free school meals to be a member of a school team or club (24% and 44%, respectively) or a team or club outside of school (33% and 50%, respectively).


Frequency of coaching

Around four-fifths (81%) of young people had received tuition or coaching in sports at least once within the previous year, not including coaching received during PE or games lessons. Almost three-fifths (58%) had been coached at least once a week and around one in ten (9%) had been coached at least once a month.



Encourage young people to participate in sport

The most frequently cited factors that would encourage young people to participate more in sport were ‘someone to go with’ (54%), ‘facilities nearer to home/school’ (35%), ‘better quality facilities’ (29%), ‘cheaper admission prices’ (26%), ‘cheaper kit and/or equipment’ (26%) and ‘better opening hours’ (23%).


Attendance at a live sports event

Just over seven in ten young people (72%) had attended a live sports event as a spectator in the previous year. Around one in seven had done so at least once a week (13%), at least once a month (15%) or once every 2-3 months (15%).


Activity level and healthy eating

Young people were asked to best describe their activity levels and eating habits. Just under two-fifths of young people said they were either very active and did eat healthily (39%) or very active but did not eat healthily (38%). Just under one in five (18%) said they were not very active but did eat healthily. However, 6% of young people said they were not very active and did not eat healthily.


Technical notes

Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey

The Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency was commissioned by a consortium of government departments and public bodies to design, conduct and report on a study of the behaviour and attitudes of young people in Northern Ireland. The Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey (YPBAS) is a school-based survey carried out among 11-16 year olds and covers a wide range of topics relevant to the lives of young people today. The main aim of the YPBAS is to gain an insight into, and understanding of, their behaviour and lifestyle. It also aims to influence various government policies and practices relating to young people and to facilitate access to research findings and expertise.

Questionnaire

Three versions of the questionnaire were used to accommodate demand for topics on the 2025 survey. The content and structure of each questionnaire was agreed in consultation with clients. Schools were allocated one of the three questionnaire versions. A copy of the DfC questions can be accessed at: DfC Questions on the Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey 2025. The sport questions were included in Version A and B.

Sample and response rate

The Department of Education (DE) provided CSU with a list of all post-primary schools in Northern Ireland (excluding independent schools and those which catered solely for pupils with special needs). All 190 post-primary schools, were contacted and invited to participate. Ninety schools agreed to participate in the study, resulting in a response rate of 47%. One class in each of the five year groups (Years 8-12) was then randomly selected to take part in the study. Fieldwork took place between September 2025 and February 2026. In total, 8,875 pupils took part in the 2025 survey.

Weighting YPBAS

Analysis of the sport module of the YPBAS has been weighted for non-response. A chi square goodness-of-fit test showed that the YPBAS sample was not representative of the school population by year group, sex and religion. As a result, weights were produced and applied depending on the characteristic being analysed.

Non-response weighting sometimes increases standard errors, although the impact tends to be fairly small, i.e. the adjustment may be less or greater than 1, but will generally be reasonably close to 1.

While weighting for non-response (also called post-stratification) should reduce bias, it must be acknowledged that it will not eliminate bias. The reasons individuals choose to take part in surveys are complex and depend on lots of factors specific to the individual. As a result, the non-response biases in surveys are likely to be complex. Post-stratification works on the assumption that, by aligning the survey to the population along a small number of dimensions, many of these complex biases will reduce. However, it would be misleading to suggest that they will be eliminated.

Statistical significance in this report

The results presented in this report are based on data which has been weighted by year group, gender and religion in order to reflect the composition of the Northern Ireland Year 8-12 school population. Since a three stage sample design was used: schools, classes and pupils, the required assumption of random sampling was not met for significance testing. In 2013, standard errors were calculated for some of the variables in the survey using a formula for complex samples. However, when these were compared with standard errors calculated using the formula for random samples there was little difference (see Technical Report). Given those findings, and the methodology is consistent with that used in 2013, tests of statistical significance in this bulletin have been carried out using the formula for random samples.

Any statements in this report regarding differences between groups are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. This means that we can be 95% confident that the differences between groups are actual differences and have not just arisen by chance. Both the base numbers and the sizes of the percentages have an effect on statistical significance. Therefore on occasion, a difference between two groups may be statistically significant while the same difference in percentage points between two other groups may not be statistically significant. The reason for this is because the larger the base numbers or the closer the percentages are to 0 or 100, the smaller the standard errors. This leads to increased precision of the estimates which increases the likelihood that the difference between the proportions is actually significant and did not just arise by chance.

Other notes

The following should be noted when interpreting figures and tables:

  • Percentages less than 0.5% are denoted by ‘0’ and where there are no responses, they are denoted by ‘-’.
  • Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.
  • Percentages may not add to 100% for questions where multiple responses are allowed.
  • Detailed tabulations are not provided where the number of respondents is too small to allow meaningful analysis.
  • The base number of responses to each question, which is shown in each table, is the unweighted count. The base may vary due to some respondents not answering certain questions.

Definitions

Sport participation - Participated in at least one of the following sports or physical activities (in the past year/week prior to the YPBAS):

  • Active games (e.g. chase, skipping, rounder’s etc.)
  • Angling/fishing
  • Athletics/cross country
  • Basketball/netball/volleyball
  • Boxing
  • Canoeing/Kayaking/Rowing/Paddleboarding
  • Cricket
  • Crossfit, Hyrox, HIIT
  • Cycling
  • Dancing (e.g. contemporary, ballet, tap etc.)
  • Darts
  • Football
  • Gaelic Football
  • Golf, pitch and putt, putting
  • Guided fitness activities (e.g. yoga, pilates, Zumba, circuits, spin, boxercise)
  • Gymnastics
  • Hockey
  • Horse riding
  • Hurling/Camogie
  • Ice skating
  • Indoor or outdoor bowls, tenpin bowling or Boccia
  • Jogging/Running
  • Martial Arts
  • Motor sports
  • Outdoor adventure sports (e.g. rock climbing, abseiling or orienteering)
  • Rugby (union, league or tag)
  • Shooting
  • Skiing/Snowboarding
  • Snooker, pool, billiards
  • Swimming or diving
  • Table tennis
  • Tennis/Badminton/Squash/Pickleball
  • Trampolining
  • Urban Sports (e.g. Skateboarding/rollerblading, scooting, BMX, Parkour or breakdancing)
  • Walking for Exercise/Hill walking
  • Weight training/lifting/body building
  • Windsurfing/boardsailing/surfing
  • Yachting or dinghy sailing
  • Any other Sports or Physical Activities