A sporting nation is growing and changing In the Netherlands, the needs of athletes are changing due to increased age and prosperity, and a lack of time. More than half of the Dutch population exercises regularly. More and more, athletes choose to be active in self-organised sports. In recent years, the sports industry has become larger and more diverse. Sports for the elderly is a growing sector, youngsters seem to participate less. This is the state of the Dutch sporting nation in a nutshell. No fewer than 8.8 million Dutch people (exceeding half the population) participate in sports at least once a week, 15% of the Dutch even exercise more than 4 times a week. 24% of the Dutch never exercise. They have a lack of time, do not feel healthy enough, or they consider family or hobbies to be more important. Overall sports participation in the Netherlands is stable, but the share of the elderly is growing strongly. Partly because Dutch population is aging, but also because relatively more people over 65 take up sports or exercise. Youngsters have been exercising less in the past 10 years, probably due to the popularity of online games, social media, and other challenges. For better health and fun The Netherlands boasts 28,000 sports clubs; 23,000 of which are affiliated with one of the 100 sports associations. Together, all sports associations have 5.2 million members. In addition to their sporting motivation, these athletes also come for health reasons and fun, to a lesser extent for sporting performance. 8.2 million athletes mainly participate in sports using public facilities such as parks and forests or do sports at home. A total of 11,000 km of hiking trails, 37,000 km of cycle paths, and 36,000 hectares of recreational areas are available for them. 6 6,3 million athletes use the facilities of 6,600 commercial sport providers (such as fitness, swimming pools, dance schools, riding schools). Health, fitness, and weight loss are important motivations for these people to exercise. 30% of Dutch people exercising combine one or more physical activities, either organised or selforganised or in a commercial setting. Increasing sports participation is a crucial goal for Dutch governing bodies, NOC*NSF (main organisation for organised sports in the Netherlands) and POS (the Platform for commercial sport providers). Most favourite branch of sport The number of members of all sports clubs has been slightly declining over the past 10 years, despite growing Ouderenfonds
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