By John Eakins
Eurostat, which is the official statistical agency of the European Union, provides a wealth of information relating to the economic, social and general activities and conditions of European countries. It has also begun to focus on collecting more statistical information relating to sports activities, which the organisation themselves state is due “to its growing impact on Europe's economy and society”. The web page of which of Eurostat’s sports statistics can be accessed here.
In perusing the various web pages I came across an interesting recent survey carried out by Eurostat. They asked inhabitants of a number of European cities to state their degree of satisfaction with the city’s sports facilities. The actual question was as follows: “Generally speaking, please tell me if you are very satisfied, rather satisfied, rather unsatisfied, or not at all satisfied with the sports facilities in your city, such as sport fields and indoor sport halls?" The survey was carried out in 2015 and the full results can be accessed online here.
What is interesting is that Dublin (the only Rep. of Ire city in the survey) fairs very well in comparison to other European cities. The figure below shows the level of satisfaction with sports facilities in EU capital cities as a percentage of the resident population. Dublin lies joint 4th with Prague and is only behind Luxembourg, Helsinki and Amsterdam. If we just look at the ‘very satisfied’ percentages Dublin lies 3rd overall. It is therefore ahead of the likes of London, Paris and Berlin, cities which have hosted or are due to host events such as the Olympics and the Football World Cup.
Eurostat, which is the official statistical agency of the European Union, provides a wealth of information relating to the economic, social and general activities and conditions of European countries. It has also begun to focus on collecting more statistical information relating to sports activities, which the organisation themselves state is due “to its growing impact on Europe's economy and society”. The web page of which of Eurostat’s sports statistics can be accessed here.
In perusing the various web pages I came across an interesting recent survey carried out by Eurostat. They asked inhabitants of a number of European cities to state their degree of satisfaction with the city’s sports facilities. The actual question was as follows: “Generally speaking, please tell me if you are very satisfied, rather satisfied, rather unsatisfied, or not at all satisfied with the sports facilities in your city, such as sport fields and indoor sport halls?" The survey was carried out in 2015 and the full results can be accessed online here.
What is interesting is that Dublin (the only Rep. of Ire city in the survey) fairs very well in comparison to other European cities. The figure below shows the level of satisfaction with sports facilities in EU capital cities as a percentage of the resident population. Dublin lies joint 4th with Prague and is only behind Luxembourg, Helsinki and Amsterdam. If we just look at the ‘very satisfied’ percentages Dublin lies 3rd overall. It is therefore ahead of the likes of London, Paris and Berlin, cities which have hosted or are due to host events such as the Olympics and the Football World Cup.
The figure below looks specifically at UK and Ireland cities and also provides data from previous surveys which have asked the same question (data can be accessed here). Cardiff (76% very or rather satisfied) just edges ahead of Dublin and Glasgow in joint 2nd (75% each) using the recent 2015 survey. But over time, Dublin had experienced greater increases in the level of satisfaction relative to the other UK cities. It is hard to know what is driving the large increase between 2006 and 2009 in particular. Perhaps it is a positive hangover from the extensive construction work done during the Celtic tiger. The new Aviva stadium for example was redeveloped between 2007 and 2010.
Obviously the subjective nature of the survey is a strong limitation and if one where to objectively count the number and quality of the facilities, Dublin might be expected to be lower in relative terms than many other European cities. I also wonder if the inhabitants of Dublin had much more information about the number and quality of the facilities in other cities, would they still rate their own facilities as high (the same would obviously go for the inhabitants of other cities as well). Still, it is interesting to see a survey which presents a relatively positive view of sport facilities in Ireland.
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