Fitness and wellness

More and more Italians practise sport and not sporadically

According to ISTAT, in 2024, more than 21 million Italians practised one or more sports, 37.5 per cent of the population, among them 28.7 per cent continuously and 8.7 per cent occasionally

by Marco Bellinazzo

30 June 2025

4' min read

4' min read

Two pieces of good news, related and interdependent. In Italy, the practice of sport is increasing and the sedentary index is decreasing, as certified by Istat in the dossier presented on 30 June in Rome at the Piscine del Foro Italico, in collaboration with the Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi, Sport and Health and the Institute for Sport and Cultural Credit.

In 2024, there will be more than 21,500,000 persons aged 3 years and over in our country who practise one or more sports in their free time, or 37.5% of the reference population. Of these, 28.7 per cent practice a sport continuously and 8.7 per cent occasionally.

The tendency to practise sport is growing over time: in 1995, the proportion of sportsmen and sportswomen among people aged 3 and over was 26.6%. The increase in the number of people practising sport has - as Istat points out - almost exclusively concerned the continuous type, which has grown by almost 11 percentage points (it was 17.8% in 1995), while the occasional and occasional type has remained fairly stable throughout the period. Levels of sports practice are higher among men. In 2024, 43.4 per cent of men practise sport, while among women the percentage drops to 31.8 per cent. Over time, however, the gradual increase in the practice of sport has affected women more, to the extent that the gender gap between practitioners narrows from around 17 percentage points in 1995 to 11.6 percentage points in 2024.

New Technologies

Over the last 10 years, therefore, the proportion of sportspeople who practise sport throughout the year has increased significantly (it was 59% in 2015), at the same time the proportion of those who practise sport only seasonally has decreased, by 7.3 percentage points compared to 2015. The use of new technologies also supports the practice of sport: 18.7% of sportspeople (more women than men, 20.9% vs. 17.1%) declared, in fact, that they practise sport with the help of applications on the Internet dedicated to fitness, through social networks or specialised websites of gyms or sports centres. The use of new technologies for the practice of sport is not very widespread among the very young up to 14 years of age (5.1%), it grows at a later age and reaches the highest levels among young adults aged 25-44 (29.1%). However, there is no shortage of users even among sportsmen and sportswomen over the age of 64 (almost one in 10).

Sedentarietà

The sedentary rate has decreased from 35% in 2023 to 32.8% in 2024. Over the past 30 years, there has also been an increase in continuous sports practice, from 26.6% of those practising sports between continuous and occasional in 1995 to 37.5% in 2024. The growth mainly concerns continuous sports practice (from 17.8% to 28.7%), while occasional practice continues to remain stable (8.7%).

The Critical Age

Going even more specifically, the Istat report shows that passion for sport is a distinctive trait of the youngest, reaching the highest quotas among 11-14 year olds, for a share equal to 75.6% in 2024, 66.7% of which in a continuous manner and 8.9% occasionally. But already from the age of 15 - notes the National Institute of Statistics - interest in sport begins to decline, although the share of practitioners remains high up to the age of 24, respectively 66.1% between the ages of 15 and 17 and 53.9% between the ages of 18 and 24, and then progressively decreases in subsequent ages.

The practice of sport falls to 23.3% among those aged 65-74 and is 8.1% among the population aged 75 and over. It is worth noting, however, the strong increase in the third age group, considering that in 1995 only 5.3% of 65-74 year olds practised sport and just 1.4% of those over 75. Aptitude for sport is uneven across the territory.

The Geography of Sport

From a geographical point of view, the North-East is the area with the highest share of practitioners (43.9%), followed by the North-West and the Centre (41.7% and 41.5% respectively). In the southern and island regions, on the other hand, the practice of sport is generally at a lower average level (27.9%). Considering the demographic size of the municipalities, the levels of sports practice are highest in the central municipalities of the metropolitan area (42.7%) and in those in the areas bordering metropolitan areas (40.1%). Lower shares are found in small municipalities with up to 2,000 inhabitants (29.7%).

"These numbers are an incredible tool. We have Coni, Sport and Health, the Federations, we are a unique structure in the world. And this team is enriched by Istat. What we have illustrated today must serve to represent the competitiveness of our athletes on the one hand, but this medals table must increasingly correspond to supporting the quality of life with every physical and mental resource,' stressed Abodi.

'Two thirds of our population does some kind of sporting activity and that is important, it is because the sporting part does not end with membership,' added Diego Nepi Molineris, CEO of Sport and Health. We are not just talking about the 14 million Italians who are registered and this gives us an indication, there is a total lack of supply. There is a demand that we are not quickly able to take up, that demand is from those who want to be active and we must intercept it through real action and this is what we at Sport and Health are focused on. How? With unconventional spaces, with playgrounds, with school gyms, and I could go on. We have to create an unstructured sport to have more and more supply'.