Given is a table illustrating the changes in sport participation patterns of a European nation’s citizens in 1999, 2004, and 2009. Units are measured in percentage.
Overall, despite some fluctuations in participation rates, the general preferences for sports did not vary significantly. Football remained the most popular sport throughout the period despite a steady decline in participation, while golf and tennis registered pronounced upward trajectories. The remaining sports in the list (swimming, volleyball, basketball, and yoga) exhibited minimal changes.
Regarding categories that had experienced the most substantial shifts, football was by far the most prevalent sport in 1999, with 57% of individuals participating. However, this figure diminished by 5 percentage points in 2004 and a further 4 by 2009. Conversely, tennis and golf gained in popularity, rising from a quarter to 33% and more than doubling from 8 to 17%, respectively, in the decade.
Turning to the remaining sports, swimming, being the second-most popular at the start, saw a slight rise from 32 to 34% in 2004 then remained stagnant until 2009. Similarly, basketball did not experience significant changes, and neither did volleyball. As the former declined modestly from 26% to 24%, the latter increased to 20% in 2004 before losing 2% in 2009. Finally, although the proportion of people doing yoga increased by 3 percentage points, it became the least favored option at 13% in 2009.