The bar chart illustrates the proportion of men and women in New Zealand who engaged in regular physical activity in 2008 across six different age groups.
Overall, men aged 14-23 were more active than women, whereas men and women aged 64 and above had almost equal participation rates. In the other four age groups, women engaged in more physical activity than men, with a noticeable difference.
In 2008, 51.7% of men aged 14-23 participated in physical activity, higher than men in any other age group. This was also the only age group in which the proportion of women, at 46.9%, was lower than that of men. Among older adults aged 64 and above, men and women accounted for similar participation rates, at 47.2% and 48.1%, respectively.
Women were more active than men in the remaining age groups. For instance, 49.2% of women aged 24-33 participated in physical activity, compared with 43.1% of men. The largest gender gap occurred in the 34-43 age group, where 53.1% of women were active, compared with 38.8% of men. Overall, apart from the youngest group, females were generally more engaged in physical activity than males in New Zealand in 2008.