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Research, Technology and Culture. Business Statistics.
Søren Østerballe
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srb@dst.dk

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Sports Participation

The statistics contain information on activity from the sport associations, time series with main results from surveys of the population's sports habits, spectator and number of matches for selected sports and leagues, and an overview of Danish and foreign winners of international sports medals.

Data description

The statistics present annual accounts of the membership numbers in the sports organizations by, activities, sports and exercise habits of the population, attendances to selected sports and the number of Danish winners of international sports medals.

Membership numbers are distributed by gender, age group, activity and geographically. Membership numbers are listed as unique memberships in sports associations. A person who is a member of two associations will count twice in the statement. Membership numbers in the IDRAKT01 table are lower than in Table IDRFOR01, as non-sporting activities such as theater, politics, etc. are not in IDRAKT01. Sports habits are distributed by gender, age, frequency, time and organization. Attendance numbers are distributed by sport and league, and medals by championship type, sport and medal type. The Danish sports performance is ranked in comparison with the other sports nationals around the world calculated on gold medals, podiums and top-8-rankings.

The rank tables compare the Danish sports performance with other countries.

The disciplines of the summer- and winter-Olympics typically change at a new Olympic. Information regarding the relevant disciplines a specific year, refer to the official Olympics website

The materiality criteria that must be met as a minimum to be included in the attendance statistics are as follows

  • The sport must be practiced by professional athletes who are basically under contract with a club.
  • The sport must be categorized based on a professional league and structure, where the amount of matches/events and the number of attendances over a time series is collectable from season to season.
  • Tournaments with several events during one and the same event are not included in the relevant statistics.
  • The sporti events must take place on Denmark.
  • The sporti events must at least have an average attendance of approx. 150 people (Not during COVID-19).

Finally, it is a criterion that data regarding the attendances and matches are collected and structured by a main organisation, specialist association, association or similar, which can annually report the data from the league to Statistics Denmark.

Classification system

Activities for the members of associations are divided by municipalities, activities, gender and age groups.

Activities are divided by the following sports; American Football - Athletics - Automobile Sports (4 Wheels) - Badminton - Billiards - Boxing - Table Tennis - Bowling - Wrestling - Archery - Cricket - Curling - Bicycling - Dancing - Darts - Parachuting - Floorball - Football - Fencing - Golf - Gymnastics - Hang Gliding/Paragliding - Handball - Ice Hockey - Judo, Ju-Jitsu - Canoe/Kayak - Karate - Nine-Pin Bowling - Kick-/Thaiboxing - Modern Pentathlon - Motorsport (2 Wheels) - Orienteering - Padel - Parasports - Petanque - Riding - Rowing - Rollerskating - Sailing - Shooting - Softball - Scuba Diving - Squash - Powerlifting -Gliding - Swimming - Taekwondo - Triathlon - Waterski / Wakeboard - BMX - Ballroom dancing - Military sports - Flag-football - Basketball - Fishing - Fitness - Outdoor Recreation - Walking - Hockey - Dog Sports - Martial Arts, Others - Climbing - Croquet - Crolf - Running - Minigolf - Aeromodelling - Rugby - Skiing - Ice Skating - Street Sports - Mental Sports - Tennis - Volleyball - Weightlifting - Childrens Sports - Cross-Disciplinary - Vocational - School - Cross-Disciplinary - Family Sports - Cross-Disciplinary - Sports For Seniors - Sports By Day - Other Sporting Activities - Esport - Surf and rafting - Sportsactivities at work

In 2019 "Rollerskating" is replayed by "Roller sports"

The age groups are:

  • 0-12 years
  • 13-18 years
  • 19-24 years
  • 25-59 years
  • 60 years and over

Attendances by sports:

  • Ice Hockey
  • Football
  • Basketball
  • Handball

Championships are divided into the following tournaments:

  • World Championships
  • European Championships
  • Olympics
  • Paralympics
  • European Games

Medals are divided into Gold, Silver, Bronze and All medals and in addition to sports with the same categorization as activities for the members.

Discipline by Summer-Olympics-disciplines (the current disciplines for an upcoming Summer-Olympics) Winter-Olympics-disciplines (the current disciplines for an upcoming Winter-Olympics)

Performance by Gold Medal / 1st place medals/ Podium Top-8-rankings (one of the first 8 winners within a given discipline)

Sector coverage

Not relevant for these statistics.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Child: In the sports activity statistics, children are considered to be 7 to 15 years old.

Sports active: In the statistics for sports activity, you are considered sports active if you have confirmed the question "Do you usually practice sports / exercise?".

Adult: In the sports activity statistics, adults are considered to be 16+ years old.

Statistical unit

Persons, matches, medals and rank.

Statistical population

These statistics illustrate the Danish population's sports activities, as well as Danish athletes' performance in international competitions.

Reference area

Denmark.

Time coverage

Activities for members cover the period from 2014 onwards. The population's exercise and sports habits include studies from 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2020. Attendances and match numbers are from the 2006/2007 season onwards and medals from 1980 onwards. The rank tables are from 2016 and onwards.

Base period

Not relevant for these statistics.

Unit of measure

Number of members, attendance numbers , number of matches, number of medals and rank.

Reference period

Member and activities follow the calendar year. The results regarding the population's sports and exercise habits relate to the specified year. Attendances are calculated per. season, which runs from 1 August to 31 July of the following year. Medals and rank follow the calendar year.

Frequency of dissemination

Yearly. Surveys regarding the population's sports and exercise habits are conducted every four years.

Legal acts and other agreements

There is no EU regulation for this statistic.

Cost and burden

The statistics are based on existing administrative registers and already collected and published data. Therefore, there is no direct reporting burden with these statistics.

Comment

Statistics Denmark covers the field of sport under the subjects Economics and Employment of the Sports Sector, Sports Participation and Sports infrastructure and Resources.