Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Unit F1 – Social Indicators: methodology and development; Relations with users
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
21 May 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
21 May 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
21 May 2025
3.1. Data description
Statistics on employment in sport are derived from data collected by the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).
These statistics aim at investigating the contribution of sport employment to the overall employment and monitoring of a number of jobs in sport over time.
The EU-LFS is the main source of information about the situation and trends on the labour market in the European Union.
The methodology for the design and development of statistics on employment in sport is based on the one proposed by the final report of the European Statistical System Network on Culture (ESS-net Culture final report 2012) which takes into account two reference classifications:
the NACE classification (‘Nomenclature générale des Activités économiques dans les Communautés Européennes’) which classifies the economic activities; and
the ISCO classification (‘International Standard Classification of Occupations’) which classifies occupations.
Results from the EU-LFS allow characterizing employment in sport by different variables such as gender, age, educational attainment by cross-tabulating ISCO and NACE selected sport codes.
Since 1 January 2021, the EU-LFS is based on Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), and its Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240. For more detailed information, please refer to EU-LFS metadata.
3.2. Classification system
The classifications used to produce statistics on sport employment are NACE Rev. 2 for economic activities, ISCO 08 (from 2011 onwards) for occupation, and ISCED 2011 for level of education (from 2014).
3.3. Coverage - sector
Sport employment statistics cover all economic sectors relevant for the sport sector.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The EU definition of sport which encompasses "all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels" delineates the reference field in measuring sport employment. The statistical translation of this definition - the 'Vilnius Definition of Sport' - proposed by the Expert Group on the Economic Dimension of Sport, identifies the core sport sector referred as 'statistical definition of sport' and sport-related economic activities (NACE) and their correlated products (CPA).
To measure the employment in sport, the central statistical definition was retained from the list proposed in the Vilnius definition as covering the essential sport activities coded under NACE Rev.2 class 93.1 Sport activities. In addition, the dimension of occupation was introduced in the scope of sport employment. Such a methodology follows closely the one used to estimate cultural employment by considering simultaneously jobs in companies practicing an activity (NACE) in the sport domain and jobs which relate to any sport occupation (ISCO) regardless the NACE sector.
The proposed methodology creates a sport employment matrix, where the sport occupations are observed in conjunction with the list of sport economic activities. Employment in sport may therefore be defined at the crossroad of NACE (activities) and ISCO (occupations) classifications. As shown in Figure 1 below, every employee working in a sport sector should be taken into account, whether his/her occupation is related to sport (cell I) or not (cell III). Similarly, any sport-related occupation should enter into sport employment statistics, related either to a sport activity (cell I) or not (cell II). As a consequence sport employment is measured by the sum I+II+III.
Figure 1: Sport jobs at the intersection of NACE and ISCO classifications
Activities (NACE)
Sport
Non-sport
Occupations (ISCO)
Sport
I
II
Non-sport
III
-
3.5. Statistical unit
Persons.
3.6. Statistical population
The EU-LFS results cover the total population usually residing in Member States, except for persons living in collective or institutional households. While demographic data are gathered for all age groups, questions relating to labour market status are restricted to persons in the age group of 15 years or older. In the EFTA countries participating in LFS, i.e. Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, population data are not provided for the age-groups outside the scope of labour market questions.
European Union, Euro area, EU Member States, EFTA Countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye). Data up to 2019 are also available for the United Kingdom. Data for Cyprus only refers to the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.
Since 2014, data for France also includes the French overseas departments Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion) and Mayotte from 2021.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Employment in sport statistics cover data from 2011 onwards.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
All the results are presented in number of persons (thousands) and as a percentage of total employment in the respective categories.
The data on employment in sport are derived from the annual data which in the context of the EU-LFS encompass the four reference quarters in the year and correspond to quarterly results averaged through the year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The EU-LFS is based on European legislation since 1973. Its implementation is governed by legislative acts of the Council and Parliament, as well as of the Commission. The principal legal act is the Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), and its Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240, which came into force on 1 January 2021.
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Statistical treatment of data derived from EU-LFS is performed with respect of the rules and procedures to guarantee the confidentiality set up for this survey.
LFS annual results are released at the same time as the fourth quarter.
Sport employment statistics are released within three months after the annual EU-LFS indicators.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable.
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the EU legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see section 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Statistics on employment in sport are disseminated once a year.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
News articles related to employment in sport are usually published every year and they are available under the Publications section on the Sport online page.
Eurostat's sport statistics have been designed according to the following documents:
The "Vilnius definition of sport", designed by the Expert Group of Sport statistics in 2007. This definition proposes a three-stage approach in order to identify, starting from the Classification of Products by Activity (CPA), those activities, goods and services that are related to sport:
Statistical definition: it corresponds to NACE code 93.1 "Sport activities". This is the only economic sector of sport which has its own, specific, NACE code
Narrow definition: it comprises all activities which are inputs to sport; this level of the classification encompasses all industries which produce goods that are necessary to perform sport. Besides sport facilities, this classification includes, for example, manufacturing of sport shoes and tennis rackets. This definition also includes the Statistical definition
Broad definition: it encompasses all activities which require sport as an input for their production processes (television broadcasting, hotels accommodating guests doing sport, gambling etc.). This definition also includes the Narrow definition.
The study on the Contribution of Sport to Economic Growth and Employment in the EU (SPEA Report) .The study carried out in the context of the Expert Group on Sport aimed at developing a common approach and harmonising the efforts in order to assess the economic impact of sport. The methodology proposed in the study elaborated by SpEA concentrates on the economic dimension of sport through the setting up of Sport Satellite Accounts.
Within the European Union (EU) there is a growing demand for sound and internationally comparable economic statistics on sport. During the past decades several attempts were made to set up sport satellite accounts (SSA) on national as well as European levels.
In order to address this situation, the European Commission set up an EU Working Group on Sport and Economics (EU WG) in 2006. The general assignment of this EU WG was to develop a common European approach for measuring the economic importance of sport. In the future these efforts may mature into a European satellite account for sport (European Commission, 2007). Since 2006 the first steps toward development of a harmonised framework for the SSA were made. One of the EU WG’s most important results so far is the agreement on the ‘Vilnius definition of sport’.
The need of evidence based policies, better comparable data and involvement of Eurostat in sport comes from repeated calls from the policy level (starting from the AT presidency in 2006). The Commission responded with the Erasmus+ programme which finances different activities and studies (including studies to improve the database, the development of Satellite Accounts in MS's, Eurobarometer surveys on sport), grants, seminar etc.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
The development of sports statistics is continuously discussed with the European Commission policymakers and with the representatives of the countries.
12.3. Completeness
In connection with sport employment, it may be considered that completeness also depends on the level of detail provided by the countries regarding ISCO and NACE classifications. Until 2020 countries were requested to provide 2 digits for NACE, and 3 digits for ISCO, with some of them going beyond, on a voluntary basis. For countries not providing data at 3 digits for NACE and 3 digits for ISCO, an estimation is provided (see Section 18.5 below and 'Codification detail level in EU-LFS for NACE and ISCO').
As concerns statistics on employment in sport, the accuracy of data is impacted by the availability of data at 3-digits for NACE and 3-digits for ISCO. For the countries pvoviding NACE 2-digits, the estimations are made based on the data with NACE and ISCO at 3-digits available for other EU countries (see Annex 1). This estimation applies to data until 2020, as from 2021, with the introduction of the new Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), all the countries provide data at 3-digits for NACE.
Comparability across countries is considered as high and it is achieved in the EU-LFS through various regulations ensuring harmonisation of concepts, definitions and methodologies for all EU Member States, the United Kingdom, EFTA, Candidate Countries. For more information, please refer to EU-LFS metadata.
See also 12.3 above.
For sport employment, the comparability of data is influenced also by the availability of data at the most detailed NACE (3 digits) and ISCO (3 digits) levels. For countries which do not provide data at these detailed levels for the years before 2021, estimations are made.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Breaks in series in data on sport employment occure in some countries for some reference years and are related to the following situations:
(a) the population figures used for the population adjustment are revised at intervals on the basis of new population censuses (however, it is common practice to disseminate basic recalculated series);
(b) the reference period may not remain the same for a given country due to the transition to a quarterly continuous survey;
(c) in order to improve the quality of results, some countries may change the content or order of their questionnaire;
(d) countries may modify their survey designs.
The list of breaks in series induced by the census revisions, transition to continuous quarterly survey, re-design of survey or change in the methodology imputed to data on sport is provided in Annex 2 - Inventory of breaks in series and revisions.
Employment in sport data are revised following the updates of the EU-LFS results.
17.2. Data revision - practice
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data.
Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.
Data may be published even if they are missing for certain countries or flagged as provisional or of low reliability for certain countries. They are replaced with final data in connection with the publication of next reference period. All the revisions affecting the source data between the successive rounds of updates of cultural indicators (year t and year t+1) are taken into account in the round of updates t+1.
Since early 2000's, the LFS survey has quarterly periodicity, previously it was an annual survey run in spring. Since the survey became quarterly, it includes both quarterly variables and annual variables (i.e. collected only once a year).
The statistics on sport employment are based on annual averages of quarterly data and are released once a year.
Data on employment in sport are also checked and validated for their internal and external consistency before publishing.
18.5. Data compilation
General overview
Employment in Sport is measured by the sum I+II+III in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Sport jobs at the intersection of NACE and ISCO classifications
Activities (NACE)
Sport (93.1)
Non-sport
Occupations (ISCO)
Sport (342)
I
II
Non-sport
III
-
Regarding NACE classification, the code 93.1 "Sport activities" is the only one that is included in the scope, reflecting the "Statistical definition" of the Vilnius definition of Sport. In addition, Sport employment cross-tabulation includes the ISCO code 342 (Sports and fitness workers) which reflects the very nature of the Vilnius statistical definition. This category encompasses the following sub-categories: 3421: Athletes and sports players 3422: Sports coaches, instructors and officials 3423: Fitness and recreation instructors and program leaders
Estimations The NACE code retained for the scope of sport (93.1) requires a 3-digits codification. In EU-LFS, until 2020, some countries used to provide 2 digits NACE details. For these countries, data before 2021 related to the sport part of NACE 93 (i.e .the ratio 93.1/93) are estimated by applying the coefficient calculated based on the EU countries that provide 3 digits for NACE.
Statistics on employment in sport are derived from data collected by the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).
These statistics aim at investigating the contribution of sport employment to the overall employment and monitoring of a number of jobs in sport over time.
The EU-LFS is the main source of information about the situation and trends on the labour market in the European Union.
The methodology for the design and development of statistics on employment in sport is based on the one proposed by the final report of the European Statistical System Network on Culture (ESS-net Culture final report 2012) which takes into account two reference classifications:
the NACE classification (‘Nomenclature générale des Activités économiques dans les Communautés Européennes’) which classifies the economic activities; and
the ISCO classification (‘International Standard Classification of Occupations’) which classifies occupations.
Results from the EU-LFS allow characterizing employment in sport by different variables such as gender, age, educational attainment by cross-tabulating ISCO and NACE selected sport codes.
Since 1 January 2021, the EU-LFS is based on Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), and its Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240. For more detailed information, please refer to EU-LFS metadata.
21 May 2025
The EU definition of sport which encompasses "all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels" delineates the reference field in measuring sport employment. The statistical translation of this definition - the 'Vilnius Definition of Sport' - proposed by the Expert Group on the Economic Dimension of Sport, identifies the core sport sector referred as 'statistical definition of sport' and sport-related economic activities (NACE) and their correlated products (CPA).
To measure the employment in sport, the central statistical definition was retained from the list proposed in the Vilnius definition as covering the essential sport activities coded under NACE Rev.2 class 93.1 Sport activities. In addition, the dimension of occupation was introduced in the scope of sport employment. Such a methodology follows closely the one used to estimate cultural employment by considering simultaneously jobs in companies practicing an activity (NACE) in the sport domain and jobs which relate to any sport occupation (ISCO) regardless the NACE sector.
The proposed methodology creates a sport employment matrix, where the sport occupations are observed in conjunction with the list of sport economic activities. Employment in sport may therefore be defined at the crossroad of NACE (activities) and ISCO (occupations) classifications. As shown in Figure 1 below, every employee working in a sport sector should be taken into account, whether his/her occupation is related to sport (cell I) or not (cell III). Similarly, any sport-related occupation should enter into sport employment statistics, related either to a sport activity (cell I) or not (cell II). As a consequence sport employment is measured by the sum I+II+III.
Figure 1: Sport jobs at the intersection of NACE and ISCO classifications
Activities (NACE)
Sport
Non-sport
Occupations (ISCO)
Sport
I
II
Non-sport
III
-
Persons.
The EU-LFS results cover the total population usually residing in Member States, except for persons living in collective or institutional households. While demographic data are gathered for all age groups, questions relating to labour market status are restricted to persons in the age group of 15 years or older. In the EFTA countries participating in LFS, i.e. Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, population data are not provided for the age-groups outside the scope of labour market questions.
European Union, Euro area, EU Member States, EFTA Countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), Candidate Countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye). Data up to 2019 are also available for the United Kingdom. Data for Cyprus only refers to the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.
Since 2014, data for France also includes the French overseas departments Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion) and Mayotte from 2021.
The data on employment in sport are derived from the annual data which in the context of the EU-LFS encompass the four reference quarters in the year and correspond to quarterly results averaged through the year.
As concerns statistics on employment in sport, the accuracy of data is impacted by the availability of data at 3-digits for NACE and 3-digits for ISCO. For the countries pvoviding NACE 2-digits, the estimations are made based on the data with NACE and ISCO at 3-digits available for other EU countries (see Annex 1). This estimation applies to data until 2020, as from 2021, with the introduction of the new Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, also called the Integrated European Social Statistics Framework Regulation (IESS FR), all the countries provide data at 3-digits for NACE.
All the results are presented in number of persons (thousands) and as a percentage of total employment in the respective categories.
General overview
Employment in Sport is measured by the sum I+II+III in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Sport jobs at the intersection of NACE and ISCO classifications
Activities (NACE)
Sport (93.1)
Non-sport
Occupations (ISCO)
Sport (342)
I
II
Non-sport
III
-
Regarding NACE classification, the code 93.1 "Sport activities" is the only one that is included in the scope, reflecting the "Statistical definition" of the Vilnius definition of Sport. In addition, Sport employment cross-tabulation includes the ISCO code 342 (Sports and fitness workers) which reflects the very nature of the Vilnius statistical definition. This category encompasses the following sub-categories: 3421: Athletes and sports players 3422: Sports coaches, instructors and officials 3423: Fitness and recreation instructors and program leaders
Estimations The NACE code retained for the scope of sport (93.1) requires a 3-digits codification. In EU-LFS, until 2020, some countries used to provide 2 digits NACE details. For these countries, data before 2021 related to the sport part of NACE 93 (i.e .the ratio 93.1/93) are estimated by applying the coefficient calculated based on the EU countries that provide 3 digits for NACE.
The EU-LFS annual data are used as an input to compute sport employment statistics.
Comparability across countries is considered as high and it is achieved in the EU-LFS through various regulations ensuring harmonisation of concepts, definitions and methodologies for all EU Member States, the United Kingdom, EFTA, Candidate Countries. For more information, please refer to EU-LFS metadata.
See also 12.3 above.
For sport employment, the comparability of data is influenced also by the availability of data at the most detailed NACE (3 digits) and ISCO (3 digits) levels. For countries which do not provide data at these detailed levels for the years before 2021, estimations are made.
Breaks in series in data on sport employment occure in some countries for some reference years and are related to the following situations:
(a) the population figures used for the population adjustment are revised at intervals on the basis of new population censuses (however, it is common practice to disseminate basic recalculated series);
(b) the reference period may not remain the same for a given country due to the transition to a quarterly continuous survey;
(c) in order to improve the quality of results, some countries may change the content or order of their questionnaire;
(d) countries may modify their survey designs.
The list of breaks in series induced by the census revisions, transition to continuous quarterly survey, re-design of survey or change in the methodology imputed to data on sport is provided in Annex 2 - Inventory of breaks in series and revisions.
