More than half (56 percent) of Dutch adults do not exercise enough. They don’t do enough ‘moderate-intensity’ exercises, such as cycling or walking, or they don’t do enough muscle and bone-strengthening activities such as playing football or weight lifting — or both. This is evident from figures published on Tuesday by Statistics Netherlands, which were collected in collaboration with the RIVM.
As a frame of reference, CBS uses the exercise guidelines of the Health Council On. These prescribe that adults do at least two and a half hours of ‘moderately intensive’ activities spread over the week and muscle and bone strengthening exercises at least twice a week.
Although most (78 percent) Dutch people still get enough muscle and bone strengthening exercise, only half of adults do enough light exercise. 44 percent do both. The figures also show that people exercise less and less as they get older. Less than three in ten people over 75 meet the exercise guidelines. The older people get, the less often they exercise weekly: 63 percent of 18 to 35-year-olds, and 31 percent of over-75s.
Difference in education level
It is striking but not surprising that the more educated people are, the more often they exercise. People with a completed higher vocational education or university education participate in sports more often than people who have completed a maximum of primary education or pre-vocational secondary education. That difference has been visible for decades, and was further magnified during the corona pandemic, when many team sports were temporarily banned. Alternatives such as running and cycling were predominantly taken up by people with higher education.
There are a wide range of causes for the correlation between education level and sports participation. According to the Mulier Institute, which focuses on research into sport and exercise, ‘sports socialization’ plays an important role. This means “that someone has contact with sports in a playful manner for a long time and is stimulated by the social environment.”
Free time and costs have little influence
Those who have had positive experiences with sports and are surrounded by sports enthusiasts usually maintain healthy sports habits for longer. Because the children of highly educated parents often go to college or university themselves, the percentage of highly educated sports enthusiasts remains relatively high. Also relevant, according to the Mulier Institute, are qualities such as self-reflection and self-control, which the Mulier Institute attributes more to highly educated people. According to the research institute, free time and the costs of sports have “hardly” an influence.
All in all, the figures from Statistics Netherlands and the RIVM show that the Netherlands has become further away from the goals set in The Hague in recent years. The government wants three-quarters of the Dutch population to meet the exercise guidelines by 2040, to prevent or remedy physical and mental problems. When the Health Council introduced the exercise guidelines in 2017, 47 percent of adults still met them.