Getting people active and playing sports; study to provide data and insights to help cities do more

SINGAPORE — Getting citizens to lead sporty and active lifestyles is a challenge that many global cities and Governments grapple with, and they will now be able to tap a study that uses data and analytics — across factors such as age, demographics, ethnicity, social-economic status and even location — to provide policymakers with better knowledge, insights and ideas to get more people physically active.

Founded by London, Auckland, and Singapore, Active Citizens Worldwide (ACW) is a global initiative aimed at helping cities worldwide learn more about the sporting habits and physical activities of its people, and to eventually boost and transform them.

Findings from the ACW report were unveiled at the "Social Resilience through Sport and Physical Activity" event on Tuesday (July 10), which was held in conjunction with the World Cities Summit 2018 at the Marina Bay Sands.

For example, the study showed that in Singapore, the "lack of time because of work/school" is cited most prominently as the reason why people across the different age groups do not engage in physical activity. While active participation levels were highest for those aged between 13 and 15 at 72 per cent, that dipped significantly for the four groups aged from 16 to 64 — the lowest was 37 per cent for those 45 to 54 — before picking up for those over 65 (43 per cent).

Across the three cities, older people tend to be less active, said the report, with London seeing a dramatic decline while in Singapore, the biggest decline coincides with working life. In Auckland, changes are not as obvious, and physical activity starts declining from the age group 50 to 64 onwards.

The multi-city report also revealed the estimated value of physical activity across the three cities, as it pegged the total annual value of participation in sport and physical activity at US$16.4 billion (S$22.2 billion). The Singapore City Report 2018, one of three city reports under ACW, showed how sport and physical activity generated value across three areas: Economic, health, and social.

Its findings showed that in Singapore, sports and physical activity generate an estimated S$454 million in savings annually, and results in 19,800 additional years of healthy life and 575 fewer deaths. On the economic front, sports and physical activity contribute about S$3.9 billion and provide 33,000 jobs for Singapore.

Sports and physical activity delivers annual social benefits (crime prevention, annual GDP growth from improved educational performance) of S$16 million, and provides 268 million hours of positive interactions.

In addition, Singapore's physically active citizens currently generate a total of S$4.4 billion for Singapore's economy. This is spread out over three areas: economy (S$3.9 billion), health (S$454 million), and impact of social benefits (S$16 million).

Mr Lim Teck Yin, chief executive officer of Sport Singapore, who was part of the panel discussion at the event, said that the ACW project will help "strengthen evidence-based decisions" towards Vision 2030, its 20-year road map launched in 2012 to improve the lives of Singaporeans through sports. This would be done by cross sharing quantitative and qualitative data from other cities, as well as using data from the Singapore report to develop and fine tune its policies, facilities, and programmes.

"You will find that in some cases we are doing better, in other cases the other cities are doing better and we want to look into that and ask them: what is it in your context that makes it succeed that perhaps we can learn from," he said.

Ms Tove Okunniwa and Ms Sarah Sandley, the respective CEOs of London Sport UK and Auckland Activ New Zealand — who were also part of the panel discussion — also shared the challenges their cities faced in getting citizens to live an active lifestyle.

Ms Okunniwa hoped to use the city data to "help startups get the best possible start by connecting them with the communities that face the greatest challenges (in leading physically active lifestyles)."

Ms Sandley spoke about the obesity problem in New Zealand — third ranked in the world for adult obesity behind the United States and Mexico — and how the data could help target certain communities in Auckland that were especially vulnerable to inactivity.

While Mr Lim said that some of the data from the report is encouraging, they need to "dig a little more to investigate."

For example, the National Sports Participation Survey of 2017 showed that the percentage of Singaporeans who did not participate in sports shrank from 29 per cent in 2015 to 19 per cent in 2017.

The ACW report, however, gave a more detailed picture. The report showed that about 42 per cent of Singaporeans participate in at least 150 minutes of moderate to intense activity per week, while 47 per cent of those who lived in the western part of Singapore were inactive as compared to the rest of the island, which was at the 30 to 40 per cent range.

Mr Lim said: "The national sports participation survey measures frequency but that does not include quality. (The ACW project) is about impact, not about coming up with figures but about examining those and connecting those with real impact."

Moving ahead, integrated programmes and facilities could be part of the Singapore sporting landscape, said Mr Lim.

Citing the example of water aerobics for seniors, he said: "Perhaps we can work with People's Association to have a cooking session or makan session where they actually have access to understanding how to eat better as they age.

"Seniors don't go home straightaway, they engage and stay, but whatever else they get out of this is also benefiting their lifestyle."

Also delving into Sport Singapore's Flippa Ball — a simplified version of waterpolo — for seniors, he said that they should have more of such initiatives "to get more people to play together".

He added: "You could do this on land, you could do this in facilities at the Housing and Development Board blocks. You could do this in the park.

"To be able to get volunteers, to get people around interest groups to come out and play a lot more, that's something we want to do and to see whether some of these attitudes that we see today — why people don't engage, why they don't play — will see some shifts."