The Sports Administration announced the results of the 2022 Exercise Current Situation Survey on December 29, 2022. 81.8% of Taiwanese people do exercise, with those doing regular exercise reaching 34% for the first time since 2014 (definition of regular exercise 7333: three or more times per week, every time 30 minutes or over, sweat and breathe heavily when exercising).

To continue to promote sports for all and actively promote national health, after the end of the Taiwan iSports Program in 2021, the Sports Administration put forward the Taiwan iSports 2.0 Program. In cooperation with city and county governments, the aim is to effectively develop distinctive local sports environments and gradually realize the objective of “Sports for health, happy life”. To understand the execution situation of various sports for all promotion policies, the Sports Administration commissioned Shih Hsin University to carry out the “Exercise Current Situation Survey”. 

The results of the 2022 survey show that, affected by the easing of the pandemic, the proportion of people doing regular exercise increased by 0.1%, the young and elderly regular exercise population returned to pre-pandemic levels, and there was also a slight increase in the proportion of enterprise employees doing regular exercise. As for exercise type, people prefer outdoor exercise, with badminton and basketball most popular. If a person does not exercise regularly, invitation by family and friends is the best promoter of exercise; taking part in sports activities is also a good way of doing exercise, with young people aged 13-24 feeling the increase in sports activities held by city and county governments. Future trends were also a focus of the survey; the results show that wearable device technology and home fitness are the main future trends. The results also showed that health management instruction, HIIT and seniors’ exercise classes are gradually being given importance.

 

The results of the survey are described below:

With the easing of the pandemic, the exercise population was 81.8%, up by 1.6% in 2021; the regular exercise percentage of 34% was up by 0.1% in 2021, setting a new high.

Under the Sports Administration’s sports for all policy, people have gradually nurtured the habit of exercising. From April 28, 2022 to today, the number of COVID-19 infections has exceeded 10,000 day, however, the pandemic alert maintained at level 2; the proportion of young people (13-17 years old) and the elderly (over 70 years old) doing regular exercise has returned to pre-pandemic levels, up by 3.5% and 6.1% in 2021, respectively and similar to 2020; the percentage of middle-aged people (50-59) doing regular exercise has increased 4.7% through 2020-2022.

In terms of exercise type, outdoor exercise accounted for 81.6% (up by 5.1% in 2021); ball sports accounted for 23.6% (up by 7.8% in 2021), with badminton at 11.4%, up by 5.1% on 2021, the highest; this was followed by basketball at 9.5% (up by 2.2% in 2021). Orchestics/stretching/dance accounted for 12.8%, down by 4.8% in last year, with stretching/ Pilates/yoga at 6.6%, with the largest decrease in 2021 (decrease of 5.1%).

There were regular exercise percentages for military, civil service and teachers of 34.7%, (up by 0.5% in 2021), shop owners/managers of 31.8% (up by 0.7% in 2021), freelancers of 30.6% (up by 1.9% in 2021), technical personal of 26.0% (up by 0.1% in 2021), and blue collar workers of 22.4% (up by 0.9% in last year) with average increase of 0.82%. 

For people doing exercise at least three times a week, invite or company by family and friends (30.7%) was the main method for increasing weekly sports times; as for methods for increasing exercise intensity, invite or company by family and friends (21.6%) was in first place, followed by physical individual instruction courses (20.6%).

「Taiwan iSports 2.0 Program」helps local governments promote local sports affairs and develops local distinctive sports. The results of this year’s survey show that the percentage of people who think that exercise activities are regularly held or occasionally held in the city/county they live was 32.2%, up by 12.6% in 2021; the percentage of people agreeing was highest for those aged 13-24 years of age.

The percentage regularly or occasionally receiving information in the city/county they live is 28.8%, up by 16.2% in 2021. Smart phone/tablet was the main source of information (38.0%).

With the sports and fitness trend survey items of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), this survey asked the opinions of netizens. Results showed that wearable device technology (43.9%) and home fitness ( 41.4%) are the main future sports and fitness trends, each over 40%. The percentage of people who exercise (42.5%) and who do regular exercise (49.6%) that use wearable devices is higher than those who do not exercise.

Compared to 2021, the ranking of health management instruction and HIIT increased the most, with the former jumping up six places and the latter four places. Looking at population statistics background, health management instruction is mostly given importance by women and HIIT by men and young people; people aged 60-69 year old account for the largest group attaching importance to seniors’ exercise classes with slightly more importance attached by men than women.

This year’s survey shows that people are gradually shifting to a post-pandemic new life and the percentage of people doing regular exercise has increased. The survey used a questionnaire to gain an understanding of people’s exercise habits to serve as reference for the Sports Administration when introducing diverse sports services in future. In the future, Taiwan iSports 2.0 will continue to be promoted, assisting city/county governments to develop exercise activities and distinctive local sports, integrating sports and health promotion and enhancing sports professional manpower quality and quantity to build a friendly sports environment and services.

 

This study was carried out by phone, targeting people aged 13 years old and above across Taiwan. Using the stratified random sampling method, 25,548 samples were collected; with 95% reliability rate and error of ±0.6%, 385 samples were completed in Lienchiang County and at least 1,510 samples in Taipei, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Taoyuan cities, with at least 1,067 completed in the remaining cities and counties. The online survey used the online self-filled in questionnaire method. According to the 2020 Taiwan Internet Report of the Taiwan Network Information Center, Facebook users over 12 years of age account for 94.2% of users, followed by Instagram with around 39.2%. This online survey sent survey advertisements to users through FB/IG to users aged over 13 years old and had 1,070 valid samples.