Taipei Fine Arts Museum

    Due to Mayor Hau’s unceasing efforts to promote and advocate public sports, Taipei City is the first of six major cities to pioneer surveys on the sports participation of citizens with the Survey on the Sports Participation of Taipei Citizens, with 12,859 Taipei citizens over the age of 13 being interviewed. According to the Survey, besides work and housework, 83.3% of the citizens do sports as an extracurricular activity. 45.6% of the citizens exercise regularly, i.e. at least 3 days a week and more than 30 minutes each day. Based on this rate and the population over the age of 13 (2,358,391 people in total, by September 2013), it can be estimated that around 1.07 million citizens work out regularly. Further analysis shows higher regular sports participation rates among the males, senior citizens, and students aged between 13 and 17, whereas females, adults aged between 30 and 44, white-collar workers, and blue-collar workers yield lower rates.

Concerning the place where people do sports, 77.9% of the interviewees prefer outdoor activities, while the other 21.8% opt for indoor activities. In regard to exercising alone or with others, 43.7% of the citizens work out individually, while 29.3% exercise with friends and 26.8% with family. As for the favored workout time, 35.2% of the citizens prefer exercising at night, 26.8% in the morning, and 21.3% in the afternoon.

What are Taipeians’ favorite sports? The statistics show that walking is ranked top, according to 42.9% of interviewees. Jogging (25.4%) comes next, followed by cycling (17.4%), hiking (15.4%), basketball (13.9%) and swimming (12.6%). Cross-analysis shows that students aged between 13 and 17 prefer basketball among other sports, adults aged between 18 and 34 favor jogging, while the middle aged and senior citizens opt for low-intensity walking.

According to Commissioner Ho of the Department of Sports, Taipei City Government, this large-scale telephone survey, in which more than 10 thousand citizens were interviewed, provides an insight into the actual sports participation and sports development of Taipei City, and will serve as a basis for future sports policies that, in order to achieve the ideal of “sports for all”, can be tailored to meet the individual requirements of each sport’s demographic characteristics.