The 2015 SSFNational Sports-Life
Survey of Children
Executive Summary
December 2015, Japan

Toward the realization ofSport for Everyone(SSF) has been conducting theprogram, the Sasakawa Sports FoundationSports-Life Survey of Children Aged Four to Nine Years

every

two years, which is designed to understand the participation rate of children in sports andphysical activities after school and during holidays and the sports environment surrounding
children.
The survey was carried out from June 27 to July 31, 2015, using the household drop-oﬀ
survey method with a questionnaire. The subjects were 1,800 randomly selected boys and girls
aged four to nine years throughout the country. The survey questions included the current
situation about sports and physical activities (such as frequency, time, and intensity), available
sports facilities, sports clubs, sports spectating, sports lessons and practices, family involvementin sports and physical activities, and lifestyle habits (such as breakfast and sleeping). The
number of valid responses was 1,123 (a response rate of 62.4%). The following is a summary of
the main survey results.

1Participation in sports and physical activities by frequency

Concerning the question on the frequency
ofparticipation

insports

andTable 1 Deﬁnition of frequency level

physicalFrequency
level

Participation in sports and physical activities

participated in any sports and physical0None over the last twelve months（0 times/year）

activities at all in the previous one year, 1.9−1Less than once a week（1 to 51 times/year）

percentage points higher than 1.8% in 2013＋1

1 to 2 times a week（52 to 103 times/year）(Figure 1). The percentage of those who＋2

2 to 3 times a week（104 to 155 times/year）

participated in some sports and physical＋3

3 to 4 times a week（156 to 207 times/year）＋4

4 to 5 times a week（208 to 259 times/year）＋5

5 to 6 times a week（260 to 311 times/year）＋6

6 to 7 times a week（312 to 363 times/year）＋7

7 or more times a week（more than 364 times/year）

activities among respondents aged four tonine years, 3.7% replied that they had not

activities at least seven times or more a week
was 49.8%, indicating that more than a halfof the respondents aged four to nine years
regularly participate in sports and physicalactivities.

2011（n=1,257）（％）
60

2013（n=1,211）

2015（n=1,123）
52.7

50
40

49.8

35.5

30
20
10

4.8

8.2
1.8

3.7

3.0 1.8 2.4

10.5
5.2 6.8

7.4 6.9＋1＋2

9.7 8.0

7.4

7.6 8.0 8.3

10.7
8.1 7.3＋4＋5

9.9

6.9 7.600−1＋3＋6

Fig.1 Participation in sports and physical activities (by frequency level)＋7 frequencylevel

2Types of sports and physical activities

To the question on sports and physical activities they had done in the previous one year, playing tag
received the highest response at 50.5%, riding bicycle was second at 36.7%, and swimming was third at34.0%, which means that so-called playing exercises were top rated (Table 2).
In the order of popularity by gender, playing tag at 50.9%, soccer at 45.5%, and swimming at 37.3% werepopular with boys, and playing tag at 50.0%, swing at 39.4%, and riding bicycle at 37.5% were popular withgirls (Table 3).

Table 2 Participation rates by sports and physical activities (multiple answers permitted)
Rank

2011（n=1,197）

％

Rank

2013（n=1,189）

％

Rank

2015（n=1,082）％

1

Playing tag

34.0

1

Playing tag

49.9

1Playing tag

50.5

2

Swimming

29.9

2

Swimming

37.7

2

Riding bicycle

36.7

3

Soccer

23.7

3

Riding bicycle

35.6

3

Swimming

34.0

4

Riding bicycle

23.1

4

Swing

29.8

4

Swing

29.3

5

Swing

18.0

5

Soccer28.8

5

Dodgeball

28.7

6

Dodgeball

17.4

6

Dodgeball

26.7

6

Soccer26.2

7

Skipping rope (including long rope)

14.6

7

Skipping rope (including long rope)

26.1

7

Skipping rope (including long rope)

25.1

8

Running

12.4

8Iron bar

21.7

8

Iron bar

20.4

9

Iron bar

11.4

9

Hide-and-seek

21.1

9

Running

19.5

10 Hide-and-seek

10.4

10 Running

18.8

10 Hide-and-seek

18.9

Table 3 Participation rates by sports and physical activities (by gender：multiple answers permitted)
Boys（n=552）

Rank

％

Rank

Girls（n=530）％

1

Playing tag

50.9

1

Playing tag

50.0

2

Soccer

45.5

2

Swing

39.4

3

Swimming

37.3

3

Riding bicycle

37.5

4

Riding bicycle

35.9

4

Skipping rope (including long rope)

33.4

5

Dodgeball

32.4

5Swimming

30.6

6

Swing

19.6

6

Iron bar

27.7

7

Running

19.2

7

Dodgeball

24.9

8

Hide-and-seek

18.5

8

Running

19.8

9Skipping rope (including long rope)

17.2

9

Hide-and-seek

19.2

Iron bar

13.4

10

Riding unicycle

11.3

Playing catch

13.4

103

Facilities and places

Regarding facilities and places for sports and physical activities, school/kindergarten/nursery school was
ranked ﬁrst at 69.2%, park/public square/open space was the second-most popular at 58.2%, and own homeor friend s home ranked third at 28.9%. Gymnasium or sports ground (outside school) came fourth at 27.4%,
followed by swimming school (swimming club) at 12.8%.
In terms of school attendance, in addition to park/public space/open space,school/kindergarten/nurseryschool, or own home or friend s home were main places for sports and physical activities amongpreschoolers. The utilization rate of school/kindergarten/nursery school was high among elementary school
students, and they chieﬂy utilized school facilities as places for sports and physical activities (Table 4).

Table 4 Utilization rates of facilities and places for sports or physical activities (by circumstance of school attendance)
Rank

Preschoolers （n=275）

1 Park/public square/open space％

Rank 1st or 2nd grade elementary school students（n=364） ％68.4 1 School/kindergarten/nursery school 67.3 1 School/kindergarten/nursery school 78.5

2 School/kindergarten/nursery school 57.5 2 Park/public square/open space
3 Own home or friendʼs home

Rank 3rd or 4th grade elementary school students（n=441） ％59.9 2 Park/public square/open space

50.3

36.0 3 Gymnasium or sports ground (outside school) 30.8 3 Gymnasium or sports ground (outside school) 32.4

4 Gymnasium or sports ground (outside school) 14.9 4 Own home or friendʼs home

27.7 4 Own home or friendʼs home

25.2

5 Swimming school (swimming club)

9.1 5 Swimming school (swimming club) 14.3 5 Swimming school (swimming club)

14.1

6 Swimming pool
7

5.5 6 Swimming pool

8.0 6 Swimming pool

7.9

Ocean/beach/port

3.6 7 Sports club (including ﬁtness club, boys sports group)

4.9 7 Skiing ground

5.7

Places near their own home or friendʼs home

3.6 8 Places near their own home or friendʼs home

3.6 8 Ocean/beach/port

5.0

2.9 9 Skiing ground3.3 9 Streets

4.1

Sports club (including ﬁtness club, boys sports group)

2.5 10 Ocean/beach/port

3.0 10 Places near their own home or friendʼs home

3.4

Streets

2.5

9 Skiing ground104

Membership of sports clubs

Looking at membership status of the respondents in sports clubs at schools, private-sector sports clubs,and sports clubs in local communities, as a whole, 52.7% of them were current members of sports clubs(Figure 2). Broken down by gender, 58.2% of boys
and 46.9% of girls were current members of sports
clubs. The membership rate of boys exceeded theAll (n=1,116)

girls by 11.3 percentage points. In the types of sports

52.7Boys (n=572)

clubs, private-sector sports clubs (such as swimmingclubs and gymnastic clubs) were the highest at58.2

Girls (n=544)

37.9%, local community sports clubs (such as local

46.90sports activity groups, sports schools, and sports
training halls) were the second-most popular at

10203040506070（%）

Fig.2 Sports club membership (overall, by gender)

15.6%, and sports clubs at schools came third at 9.0%.

5Sports, physical exercises, or playing exercises with family

When parents of respondents were asked about how often their family, including themselves, did sports,
physical activities, or playing exercises with their children who were asked to answer the 2015 survey, 13.2%of them answered frequently, 50.8% responded sometimes, 28.5% replied rarely, and 7.5% answered not atall. The results indicated that morethan 60% of children aged four tofrequently

nine years did sports, physicalactivities, or playing exercises withAll (n=1,122)

13.2

theBoys (n=573)

13.8

combined rates of frequently andGirls (n=549)

12.6

sometimes

rarely50.8

not at all
28.5

7.5

their families (Figure 3). In terms
offrequency

bygender,

55.3

23.7

46.1

33.5

7.2
7.8

sometimes were 69.1% and 58.7%
0in boys and girls, respectively. Theboys rate exceeded the girls by
10.4 percentage points.

20406080100（%）

Fig.3 Circumstances on sports, physical activities, or playing exercises with family(overall, by childrenʼs gender)

Sasakawa Sports Foundation (SSF)
Address: 1-12-32 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-6011, Japan

Programs and Services:

TEL: +81-3-5545-3303

1. Research and Surveys

FAX : +81-3-5545-3305

URL: http://www.ssf.or.jp/ E-mail : data@ssf.or.jp

2. Research grants and human resource development

Established: March 1991

3. Collaboration with local governments

Purpose: To promote Sport for Everyone

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