Ranking of the most popular leisure activities in Germany 2018-2021

Germans pursued a variety of activities in their free time. In 2021, around 94 percent of the German-speaking population aged 14 years and older said they watched TV. Other popular pastimes included listening to the radio and surfing online. The ranking shows activities undertaken at least multiple times a month.

During the pandemic

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with resulting lockdowns, closures and restrictions across the board in Germany, especially in 2020 and 2021, upended the leisure activity roster for many. Basically, those activities which depended on an external venue or service being open were put on hold, adapted personally, or sometimes pursued online, while pastimes that could be enjoyed independently were more popular in some cases. Pandemic or no pandemic, watching television has consistently remained a favorite during the specified period. An additional challenge cited during 2020 in particular was the difficulty of distinguishing between work and free time while working from home.

This and that

The numerous activities in this ranking are all subject to various influences concerning their popularity at a given time, be that convenience, ongoing pandemic restrictions or concerns, technology, and so on. To give a few examples, barbecuing or grilling several times a month has seen rising numbers in the past year, joyfully arranged between lockdowns, or in private gardens among friends and family. Meanwhile, the number of people reading books in their spare time more than once a month has been slowly dropping in recent years, though the number of people reading several times a week has been increasing.