The bar chart illustrates the proportions of men and women in New Zealand who participated in regular physical activity in 2010, divided by age group.
Overall, men were more active than women in the youngest category, but female participation surpassed that of males from the age of 24 onwards. While men’s activity rates generally declined with age before recovering in older groups, women’s figures rose steadily until middle age and then remained relatively stable.
In detail, just over half of men aged 14-23 engaged in physical exercise, compared with 47% of women. However, male participation dropped sharply to around 42% among those aged 24-33 and reached its lowest point at 39% for the 34-43 group. After that, the rate increased gradually, climbing to nearly 47% among men aged 64 and above.
By contrast, women’s activity levels followed an opposite trend. Starting lower than men at 14-23 years old, their participation increased consistently across the next three groups, peaking at 54% for those aged 44-53. Although the figures declined slightly among the two oldest categories, female participation still exceeded that of men, at about 53% for the 54-63 group and 48% for the over-64s.