According to the report, 46 percent of EU citizens now state that they "never play sports". This figure has risen by four percentage points since 2014 and describes a trend that has been intensifying since 2009. In Germany, it applies to 38 percent of those surveyed. Sports activities improved in only six countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Malta.

These results were presented by Hungary's EU Commissioner Tibor Navracsics to the Eurobarometer survey during the annual sports forum in Sofia. The EU-wide survey also shows that most physical activity takes place in parks and outdoors (40 percent) or at home (32 percent). More than one in eight Europeans walk less than ten minutes a day or sit for more than eight and a half hours a day.