According to the latest Istat data, approximately 25% of Italians ha abandoned sport over the course of one’s life. And drop-out often occurs already during adolescence: between young people aged 10-24 years, over 18% stop playing sports, with an earlier trend among girls. The main reasons for abandoning sports are not, in fact, linked to advancing age or health problems, but above all to lack of time and the loss of interest.
Data on Italians and sport: 18% abandon it before the age of 20
The data of thelatest Istat report on sports practice they tell us that in 2024 over 21.5 million Italians (37.5% of the population aged 3 and over) will practice at least one sport in their free time. These numbers are increasing compared to previous decades and there is also a growth in continuous sports practice, compared to occasional sports. But if on the one hand the number of those who practice sports is growing, on the other increases Also Who, at a certain point, he decides to stop practicing it.
Sports practice is particularly widespread among most people young and between 11 and 14 years involves over 75% of children. However, with increasing age participation progressively decreases:
- 66% between 15 and 17 years old
- 54% between 18 and 24 years old
- 23% between 65-74 years
- 8% among those over 75
In absolute terms, we are talking about more 14.6 million Italians which they declared they had stopped sporting activity at a certain time in their life.
The sports drop-out it is slightly more common among men (27.5%) compared to women (23%), but among young people the situation is reversed: it is in fact girls who abandon sport more frequently. Between the ages of 10 and 24, approximately 1.56 million young people stop playing sports: 22% of girls and 15% of boys. Even theaverage age of abandonment is different: girls stop on average at 14 years old, while boys stop at 15 years old. These data are particularly relevant because sport is losing ground among the young people who should represent its future. In fact, the risk is that sporting practice is perceived as atemporary activity related to childhoodrather than as a habit to be maintained throughout life.
Territorial differences also emerge: the abandonment of sport is more frequent in the Centre-North (27%) compared to the South (23%), where, however, sports participation is generally lower.
Why young people are leaving sports
The causes of sports abandonment they are multiple and change according to life stages. For example, i family reasons they especially impact between the ages of 35 and 44, when they concern 11% of dropouts. Among young people, however, factors such as lack of sports facilities or timetables that are not compatible with school, which are the cause of 17% of dropouts in children between 11 and 17 years old.
Overall, however, the main causes are others:
- Lack of time: 35%
- Loss of interest: 31%
- Age: 21%
- Health problems or disabilities: 15%
These percentages tell us that approximately two thirds of dropouts do not depend on physical limitations, but on factors linked to the organization of daily life and difficulty maintaining sport as a stable habitAnd. In other words, between work, study and family commitments, in Italian society sport is often one of the first activities to be sacrificed. Yet its role goes far beyond simple free time: playing sport also means making an investment in health, sociality and mental well-being.
