Health, Wealth, and Happiness - the £123bn Value of Activity.
- Sport England
- Nov 18, 2025
- 3 min read
The latest figures come from the second year of our social value model, which also reveals a potential additional £20 billion of social value available by addressing inequalities.
Community sport and physical activity generated an estimated £122.9 billion in ‘social value’ across England in 2023/24, our new research has revealed.
Published today, our latest social value model – now in its second year of reporting – highlights the critical role of sport and physical activity in improving wellbeing, reducing healthcare costs, and boosting the economy.
Through in-depth analysis of our Active Lives data, as well as reviewing wider evidence on the health benefits of being active (including the costs associated with treating and caring for illness and poor health), the research reveals the profound social and economic benefits of sport and physical activity for communities across England.
We undertook the research in partnership with social value advisors State of Life, Sheffield Hallam University, and Manchester Metropolitan University, and you can download a report summarising the findings below or on our dedicated social value webpage.
Nearly £6bn is saved in productivity gains from a healthier workforce taking fewer sick days.
There's £8bn in direct net savings to the healthcare system through illness prevention, reducing pressure on the NHS.
Active lifestyles prevent more than 3.3 million cases of chronic health conditions a year - including 1.3 million cases of depression, 900,000 cases of back pain, and 700,000 cases of type 2 diabetes.
Community sport and physical activity deliver a £36.2bn boost to the economy through Gross Value Added (GVA) – the measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy – and job creation.
£14bn in tax revenue is generated – a return of approximately 6-7 times the public investment in sport and physical activity.
For every £1 invested in community sport and physical activity, £4.38 is generated for the economy and society – up from £4.20 in 2022/23.
And our chief executive, Simon Hayes, is keen to stress the opportunities to make the most of this social value. “Health is wealth, and today’s research publication confirms this,” he said. “Sport and exercise are vital to our economy and society and must be part of the solution to big problems.
“By protecting and investing in opportunities to be active – particularly for communities and people that face the most barriers to taking part – the nation will be healthier, wealthier, and happier.”
However, despite the benefits listed above, the research highlights a stark inequality, with the potential for £20bn more social value to be unlocked if the least active groups in society matched the activity levels of the most active.
Our Uniting the Movement strategy is unapologetically focused on tackling inequalities, with some of our more high-profile work including investing up to £250 million of National Lottery and Exchequer funding into more than 90 places as part of our Place Partnerships, and the recent launch of the ‘We Like the Way You Move’ phase of the award-winning This Girl Can campaign.
We also continue to work alongside the Government with the same aim of tackling inequalities, including supporting their new ‘Let’s Move!’ campaign, designed to help families stay active together during the autumn and winter months.
The government has also committed approximately half a billion pounds of investment into grassroots community sport from 2025-30, ensuring sport is accessible at every level - funding everything from local playing fields to world-class tournaments.
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