Income gap in Dutch sports participation widens over a decade, CBS finds

People in the Netherlands’ lowest income group were less likely to take part in sport in 2024 than a decade earlier, while participation among the highest earners edged up, widening the gap, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) says.

The share who had taken part in at least one sport in the previous 12 months was 65.5% in the lowest fifth of income groups, down from 71.7% in 2014. In the highest fifth, it rose slightly to 89.1%, from 88.1%.

Across all income groups, nearly eight in ten people aged six or over had played a sport at least once in the previous year. The overall share had changed little since 2014, according to CBS, which based its findings on the 2024 Leisure Time Omnibus survey.

Cost was more often cited as a barrier by people on lower incomes. Among adults in the lowest income quarter, 69% agreed that the general cost of sport was too high, compared with 43% in the highest quarter. A further 32% in the lowest group said they had too little money left for sport after paying fixed bills, against 6% in the highest.

The affordability gap also affected people’s choice of activity: 27% in the lowest income group said they could not afford the sport they most wanted to do, compared with 7% in the highest. More than half of people in the lowest group said they would exercise more often if it were free; the figure was 30% among the highest earners.

Sporting habits have shifted even as overall participation has remained broadly stable. Fitness was the most popular activity in 2024, with 30.2% of people aged six or over taking part at least once during the year. Swimming, the most popular sport in 2014, had fallen to 20.2%.