In 2021, 1.37 million people were employed in the sports sector in the EU, representing 0.7% of total employment. At the EU level, the number of people working in sport in the EU recovered after dipping during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns (1.37 million employees in 2019; 1.31 in 2020).
The EU countries with the highest share of people working in the field of sport were Sweden (1.4% of total employment), Finland (1.3%), Spain and France (both 1.1%). While, the EU countries with the lowest shares of people working in the field of sport were reported in Romania (0.2% of total employment), Malta (0.3%) and Bulgaria, Slovakia and Poland (all 0.4%).
Source dataset: sprt_emp_sex
More men work in sport sectors
In the sports sector, men were more represented than women (55% and 45%, respectively), resulting in a slightly larger gender gap than that observed for overall employment (54% and 46%, respectively).
Source datasets: sprt_emp_sex, sprt_emp_age, sprt_emp_edu
Nearly a third all working in sport are aged 15-29
When it came to age, 32% of those employed were young people (aged 15-29), almost twice the share observed for overall employment (17%). People aged 30-64 represented 65% of sport employment, 15 percentage points less than the share reported for total employment.
Almost half of those employed in sport have a medium level of education
Almost half (47%) of those employed in the sport sector had a medium level of education (International Standard Classification of Education levels 3-4), followed by those with tertiary education (ISCED 5-8) with 40% (3 percentage points higher than those in total employment). People who achieved lower education (ISCED 0-2), accounted for 13% of employment in sport.
This article is being published on the occasion of the annual European Week of Sport. The motto is #BeActive, motivating people across the world to springboard into active, healthier lifestyles!
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Methodological notes:
- Employment in sport includes sport-related occupations in the sports sector e.g., professional athletes, professional coaches in fitness centres, non-sport occupations in the sports sector, e.g., receptionists in fitness centres, and sport-related jobs outside the sports sector, e.g. school sport instructors.
- France and Spain: definition differs. See information at the link above.
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