The charts below illustrate the amount of money that British parents spent on their children’s sporting activities and the count of British children taking part in three sports over a period of 7 years, starting from 2008.
Overall, British parents’ spending on sports for their children increased consistently throughout the period. It can also be seen that football remained as the most popular sport among British children between 2008 and 2014.
In 2008, British parents spent an average of around 20 pounds on their children’s sporting activities. This figure rose continuously, before hitting a peak of more than 30 pounds in 2014.
Taking a closer look at the second line graph, it is evident that despite reaching a plateau over the period shown, Football consistently attracted the highest level of children’s participation compared to the remaining sectors. Swimming, on the other hand, experienced a gradual surge, starting from nearly 2.5 million and reaching the peak of approximately 2.7 million in 2014. Meanwhile, the number of British children engaging in athletics remained relatively stable at below 0.5 million from from 2008 to 2010, after which it soared dramatically to roughly 5 million in 2012, followed by a decrease of about 0.2 million in 2014.