ACTGHS self rated physical activity, children

Commentary

Of the respondents to the 2021 ACT General Health Survey aged 5-17 years, 33.5% physical activity was rated as very active, 32.7% as active, 25.1% as moderately active, 6.9% as not very active and 1.7% as not at all active. In 2021, males (40.7%) were significantly more likely to rate their physical activity as very active than females (27.2%). There was no significant difference between males and females in the other self rated physical activity categories in 2021.

For the purpose of reporting the ACT General Health Survey data on HealthStats, if the 95% confidence intervals of the estimates do not overlap, they are considered to be significantly different.

Note: The indicator shows self-reported data collected through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI). Estimates were weighted to adjust for differences in the probability of selection among respondents and were benchmarked to the estimated residential population using the latest available Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates.

Data for children are not collected every third year (i.e. 2019 and 2022).

Responses for children aged 5-15 years were provided by the parent/carer who knows the most about the child's health. Persons includes respondents who identified as male, female, other and those who refused to answer and may not always add to the sum of male and female.

The following estimates have a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution:

• 2018 persons and 2020 males whose physical activity was as rated as not very active
• 2021 persons and females whose physical activity was rated as not at all active.

The following estimates have not been published due to small numbers or a relative standard error greater than 50%:

• 2018: males and females who reported that they are not very active, persons, males and females who reported that they are not at all active
• 2020: persons, males and females who reported that they are not at all active
• 2021 males who reported that they are not at all active.

Statistically significant differences are difficult to detect for smaller jurisdictions such as the Australian Capital Territory. Sometimes, even large apparent differences may not be statistically significant. This is particularly the case in breakdowns of small populations because the small sample size means that there is not enough power to identify even large differences as statistically significant.

Chart

Proportion of children aged 5 to 17 years whose physical activity was rated as very active, active, moderately active, not very active and not at all active, ACT General Health Survey, 2018-2021

Data

To access the data, select "View source data" link at the bottom of the visualisation. This link will open up a data table that you can download.

Codes and sources

Q. How would you rate your physical activity?

Very active
Active
Moderately active
Not very active
Not at all active
Don't know
Refused

Don't know and refused responses were excluded from analysis.

A copy of the ACT General Health Survey questionnaires can be found in Data collections.