Physical activity of children in Ireland 2018

Using internationally established criteria for determining healthy versus unhealthy for each of these physical health measures, the share of children in Ireland that are considered healthy for each measure, with the exception of cardiorespiratory fitness, was greater amongst the post-primary school respondents. Between the two stages of education, there is a significant difference between the share of children in Ireland that are considered healthy for cardiorespiratory fitness, with 84 percent of primary school respondents compared to only 76 percent of post-primary school respondents. This distribution may relate to the share of children meeting the physical activity guidelines within each stage of education.

Across the entire sub-sample, 74 percent had a 'healthy' body mass index; 77 percent had a 'healthy' level of cardiorespiratory fitness; while 92 percent and 82 percent had had 'healthy' blood pressure and waist circumference measures, respectively.

Share of children considered healthy for selected physical health measures in Ireland in 2018, by stage of education

Physical health measure	Primary school	Post-primary school	Total
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Release date

November 2019

More information

Region

Ireland, United Kingdom (Northern Ireland)

Survey time period

2018

Number of respondents

1,325 respondents

Age group

10-18 years

Supplementary notes

The Children’s Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study 2018 (CSPPA 2018) was a follow up to CSPPA 2010 looking at participation in sport, physical activity and Physical Education among children aged 10 to 18 on the island of Ireland. CSPPA 2018 was the first study to look at these issues in an all-island context.

For the Republic of Ireland, the 114 schools which participated in 2010 and were eligible were invited to participate. 74 of these agreed to take part, with 12 new schools being included for a total of 86 schools. This allowed 4,697 primary and post primary students to provide input. In Northern Ireland 29 schools and 1,954 primary and post primary students were involved. In total, 6,651 children aged 10 – 18 took part in the study. In addition, a small number of school administrators were interviewed about participation in sport in schools, school facilities and resources available for sport.

Physical health measures were collected from a sub-sample of 1,325 participants (48% male, 52% female). Cardiorespiratory fitness, blood pressure, waist circumference and body mass index were the measures used to assess health status.

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