The annual Irish Sports Monitor conducted by Ipsos B&A on behalf of Sport Ireland shows that more people than ever before are taking part in sport on a weekly basis – more than 2.12 million. The data also shows that personal exercise continues to grow in popularity, with 1 in 5 people now participating on a weekly basis.
The top five most popular sports are personal exercise (20%), swimming (8%), running (7%), cycling (4%), and weights (4%). Next are Gaelic football, soccer, dancing, yoga and Pilates (all at 3%), then golf at 2%.
Weekly sports participation rates in 2025 (48.4%) are not statistically significantly different to 2024 (48.5%) and a growing population means there were more people participating every week in 2025 than 2024. However, weekly recreational walking rates are down by 4 percentage points compared to 2024, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Two out of every five people are highly active through sport and recreational walking. The decline in percentage of highly active people and the increase in percentage of sedentary people between 2024 and 2025, is largely driven by the decline in recreational walking.
The report also showed that there was a 4-percentage point difference in male and female sports participation rates in 2025, up by one percentage point from 2024.
For more details: https://www.sportireland.ie/research/news/212-million-reasons-to-celebrate-weekly-sports-participation-rates-hit-record-number
For more information, please get in touch with Kieran.OLeary@ipsos.com
