The bar chart illustrates the percentage of 9 different sport played by females and males in New Zealand in 2002.
Overall, boys were more active in soccer, while girls had the highest participation in netball and swimming. Participation in the other six types of sports was relatively balanced between both genders, with some minor differences.
The number of participants among boys in soccer accounted for almost 25%, making it the most popular sport for males, while only about 5% of girls played it. However, netball and swimming were the most common choices among girls, with participation rates of approximately 25% and 23%, respectively. Netball had the highest participation rate among all nine sports for girls, whereas only around 1% of boys played it. Despite the high percentages of girls in netball and swimming, boys were more active in six out of the nine sports, especially in cricket and martial arts. Cricket showed a substantial gender gap, with about 10% of boys playing it compared to almost none of the girls. Similarly, around 9% of boys took part in martial arts, while the figure for girls was much lower.
Although the gap was minor, boys still outnumbered girls slightly in basketball and tennis, with participation rates of 9% and 7%, respectively. In contrast, the percentage of females in athletics was about 4%, which was slightly higher than the figure for males, at around 2%. And the other sports were more commonly played by boys, with participation reaching almost 20%.