ISM 2023

The Irish Sports Monitor (ISM) is a long-established survey providing an ongoing measurement of sports participation in Ireland. The following key findings are revealed in the 2023 ISM:

• Sports Participation: 47% of the adult population regularly participated in sport. This indicates a 4-percentage point increase in sports participation since 2022, increasing the number of people regularly participating in sport from 1.75 million in 2022 to 1.97 million in 2023. 
• Physical Activity: ISM 2023 categorised 39% (1.6 million) of the adult population as ‘highly active’, who met the National Physical Activity Guidelines through sport and recreational walking
• Gender Gap Reducing: The difference in sports participation rates between men and women reached its lowest level on record at just under 3%. Sport participation among women (46%) reached its highest level, increasing by 6 percentage points since 2022. Sports participation among men (49%) increased by 4 percentage points since 2022. 
• Socio-economic: The existing 19 percentage point socio-economic gap in sport participation was lower than any other point since the pandemic, and much lower than the 34-percentage point gap measured in 2017. 
• Disability: The proportion of those with a long-term illness or disability involved socially in sport increased by 12 percentage points to 34%. One in five people with a disability (21%) were classified as inactive compared to one in ten people without a disability (9%)
• Child Sports Participation: Just over three quarters of parents (78%) said they have at least one child participating in sport outside of school. 
• Adult Sport Transitions: Three in every five adult sports participants (60%) started their sport aged 16 or older.