This morning, in the Conference Room of Experience Europe «David Sassoli» in Rome, the report «The Italians and Sport» was presented, created by the permanent Observatory on Sport, a spin-off of SportCity Foundation, in collaboration with Istat, Ibdo Foundation and Piepoli Institute.
The report «The Italians and Sport»
A complex and articulated work, realized with the contributions of 28 experts and 10 parliamentarians, with an intervention of the Minister of Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi and with the prefaces of Giovanni Malagò, President of Coni, Luca Pancalli, President of Cip, Claudio Barbaro, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, and Marco Mezzaroma, President of Sport and Health.
The data says that in 2022 in Italy, the proportion of sedentary people, who declare not to do either sport or physical activity in their free time, is more than a third of the population. A picture that concerns mainly the south and the islands, where paradoxically the climatic conditions should allow a greater outdoor motor activity. The strong North-South gradient with the lowest rates recorded in the autonomous provinces of Trento (16.2 percent) and Bolzano (16.9 percent) and the highest in Calabria (59.3 percent) and Sicily (59.3 percent), shows an Italy divided into different geographical realities. Istat data confirm the well-known social inequalities, with marked differences in education level at all ages and particularly among adults aged 25-44: in 2022 the proportion of people with low education level who do not practice sport or physical activity is more than double compared to those with a higher education level (49.7 percent vs 17.9 percent).
«The data presented today must make us reflect on how sports and movement culture is delivered in our country. - declares Federico Serra, President of the permanent Observatory of Sport of the SportCity Foundation - There are many differences that emerge: between north and south, between individual regions, but also between young and old, women and men etc. The most significant, and worrying, data is the low propensity of young people to do sports. The recent law that includes sport in article 33 of our Constitution, opens a hope for homogeneous and organic interventions throughout the national territory eliminating an unacceptable territorial gap from an ethical and social point of view».
«The same factors, which since the second half of the last century have led to the lengthening of the average life span to the current levels, have also led, sometimes forced, to a greater inclination to sedentariness - says Andrea Lenzi, President Cnbbsv of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers - For this reason, not only Competitive Sport, but all the so-called 'Adapted' Physical Activity (to various ages, gender, pathologies, etc.) represents today, together with correct nutrition, a real preventive strategy, but also a therapy for non-communicable chronic diseases (metabolic, cardiovascular and pulmonary, etc.)».
«In 2022, the Italians who play sports in their free time, continuously or sporadically, were 19.9 million, more than a third of the population aged 3 and over. - declares Roberta Crialesi, Manager of the Integrated Health, Assistance and Social Security System Istat - Sport continuously has been practiced by 26.3 percent of the population for a total of 15 million, while another 8.3 percent has practiced a sport sporadically. Despite the new generations showing higher levels of practice compared to previous generations, almost two thirds of the population continues not to practice any sport».
«A very high percentage (80-90 percent) of mortality, morbidity and costs of health systems in Western countries, is caused by diseases that derive from altered lifestyles; among these stand out the increase in caloric intake and sedentariness, which are then at the basis of the development of obesity. - declares Paolo Sbraccia, Vice President Vicario of Ibdo Foundation - In our hyper-technologized societies, unimaginable rates of sedentariness have been reached».
«The numbers presented today confirm that it is time for sport to be formally recognized as an essential tool of public policy and community actor, in a perspective according to which the health and social return that it guarantees to the territories and their communities is not disjointed from the aspects connected to its economic relevance», declares Hon. Roberto Pella, Deputy Vice President Anci and Member Sedec Commission Committee of the Regions of the European Union, President Interparliamentary Group «Quality of life in cities».
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