This article provides a unique opportunity to compare gender inequalities in sports participation across Europe, and the extent to which this varies by age using large, cross-sections of the population. The Eurobarometer Survey 62.0 (carried out in 2004 at the request of the European Commission and covering the adult population of 25 European member states, N = 23,909) was used to analyse differences in regular sports participation by gender and by age in the different countries. For the majority of countries, the occurrence of regular sporting activity was less than 40%. Additionally, binary logistic regression analyses identified significant gender differences in sports participation in 12 countries. In Belgium, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain, and the UK, men were more likely to report being regularly active in sports than women, whereas in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands the opposite was true. Moreover, the extent to which these gender inequalities differ by age varies considerably across countries. The results imply that: (i) in some European countries more efforts must be undertaken to promote the original goals of the Sport for All Charter, and (ii) to achieve more female participation in sports will require different policy responses in the diverse European member states.

This exploratory study seeks to plead for the need for cross-nationally comparable LTPA data and more sophisticated research in order to understand the role of macro-economic environments, with a special focus on policy-related variables and gender-specific differences.

Physical activity is an important public health issue and the benefits of an active lifestyle in relation to well-being and health have been strongly emphasised in recent years in Europe, as well as in most parts of the world. However, previous research has shown that physical activity within Europe and its member states is stratified. The present article gains insight into (1) the geographical stratification and (2) the social stratification of physical activity in the 27 European member states in 2005. Special attention is given to sporting activity in comparison to other forms of physical activity (transport, occupation, household). By doing this we intend to develop a picture of physical activity, in particular sporting activity, within the European Union. In addition, we want to verify whether low sporting activity levels are counterbalanced by other pieces of the total "menu of physical activities". Based on Eurobarometer data from 2005 (N = 26,688), bivariate analyses show that 4 out of 10 Europeans are not exposed to sporting activity. Moreover, particular subgroups of non-sportive citizens could be distinguished: South and East Europeans, and women, elderly, individuals with a lower educational level and rural citizens. Our hypothesis that these groups would compensate for their non-sporting activity by being physically active in other domains could only be confirmed for women and rural citizens, in particular with regard to household physical activity. To understand the underlying structure of these possible compensation mechanisms, additional quantitative and qualitative research is needed. Nevertheless, because of societal trends towards an inactive society, the role of sporting activity will be increasingly important in the future for all inactive subgroups. For this purpose, not only should necessary resources and key stakeholders be identified, but more importantly the social and environmental barriers for sporting activity need to be addressed.

Introduction. -Physical activity (PA) is an important public health issue and its benefits in relation to health have been strongly emphasized in recent years in Europe. Conclusion. -The current findings show that it is important for EU member states to draw up national plans in support of leisure-time PA that take account of the customs and cultural characteristics of a country.

The findings underscore the need to adopt a society-level approach and to incorporate socio-contextual factors in the study of gender disparities in LTPI.