Friluftsliv, idrett og mosjon - SSB

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The participation in individual activities is shown in table 6.
Participation in outdoor life was higher than participation in
religious and cultural activities outside the home. Participation in
several individual sport and exercise activities equalled the number of
visits to cultural institutions.
To set participation in outdoor life in an international perspective,
Norwegian figures were compared to figures from Sweden and the
United States. Norwegian participation rates are approximately the
same as the Swedish but are higher than those for the United States.
The distribution of participants by age, sex, income and education is
fairly similar to what surveys in the other countries have shown (see
table I).
This study is focused on the following factors behind participation:
the need for physical activity and release from tensions of modern urban
life, personal resources such as health, learned skills and experiences,
access to equipment, the amount of leisure time available and finally
access to various types of recreational facilities.
The findings suggest that participation in outdoor recreation,
sport and exercise is independent of the amount of manual labour which
students and economically active persons have during school and work.
Participation was also shown to be independent of the degree of urbanity.
Persons having primarily sedentary work and persons living in cities did
not have a higher rate of participation than persons engaged in physical
labour or living in rural areas - other factors being equal.
Physical health was, however, an important determinant.
Approximately 23 per cent of the population from 15 to 74 years of age
had difficulties running 100 meter, walking 100 meter quickly or
climbing stairs. Participation in outdoor recreation sport and exercise
in general and in strenuous activities in particular was much lower for
these persons than for those having a better physical condition. The
poorer the physical health defined by these indications the lower the
participation rate was.
The possibilities for participation in outdoor recreation, sport,
and exercise is also dependent on the learning of prerequisite skills.
Only 20 per cent of persons aged 15-74 unable to swim visited the beach,
while nearly 70 per cent of those who could swim made such a visit.
Swimming lessons are now a common part of school curriculum and
96 per cent of youths have learned to swim. The lack of swimming skills
will therefore be less of an obstacle to participation in the future.