How many people take part in boxing? And how popular is the sport compared with others? We surveyed the British public in January 2024 about their planned sporting activities for the year and we compiled a host of data from other sources too. The result is this – our 2024 boxing statistics round up for the UK. Let’s get it underway.
Boxing Statistics UK: The Quick Facts
Here are the fast facts and you’ll find more data, context and information within:
- Just over 1 in 25 adults in UK plans to take part in boxing in 2024
- This is weighted towards men, of whom 5.88% will box this year compared with 2.86% of women
- Boxing is most popular with those aged 16 to 24, of whom just under 9% will take part in boxing at least monthly in 2024
How Popular is Boxing Participation in the UK?
In January 2024 we surveyed 2,000 people in the UK to ask them which sports or fitness activities they plan to take part in at least monthly this year.
4.4% said they would be taking part in boxing at least monthly. This was, perhaps unsurprisingly, weighted to men:
- 5.88% of men said they would box at least monthly
- 2.86% of women said they would
To give this some context, the most popular activity was running, which 19.40% of people said they would be taking part in this year. 16.55% said they would play football at least monthly. 5.6% said they would play golf at least monthly.
So essentially, men are more than twice as likely to take part in boxing.
Boxing Participation Statistics by Age
We then took a look at how age impacts on the likelihood that someone will be involved in boxing in the UK in 2024.
Here’s what the stats showed:
Age | Proportion Who Will Box At Least Monthly in 2024 |
16 – 24 | 8.91% |
25 – 34 | 8.41% |
35 – 44 | 7.14% |
45 – 54 | 2.21% |
55 and over | 1.02% |
It is very much the case that the younger someone is, the likelier they are to box. Over 8% of those aged 16 to 34 take part monthly or more regularly and just over 7% of those aged 35 to 44 do so.
There’s a significant drop off in the 45 to 54 age group and then only just over 1 in a 100 of those age 55 and over take part in boxing.
Regional Participation Statistics
As we’ve been analysing the findings of our sports survey, we have found large regional variations. This is reflected in boxing as well. Here’s the proportion of people in each region of the UK who take part in boxing at least once a month.
Region | Proportion Who Will Box At Least Monthly in 2024 |
East of England | 3.21% |
Greater London | 5.36% |
East Midlands | 2.68% |
West Midlands | 3.95% |
North East | 3.75% |
North West | 5.41% |
Northern Ireland | 5.36% |
Scotland | 5.06% |
South East | 5.78% |
South West | 3.43% |
Wales | 6.45% |
Yorkshire and Humber | 1.82% |
In Yorkshire and the Humber, fewer than 1 in 50 will take part in boxing, while at the other end of the spectrum in Wales, over 6% will.
Demand for Boxing Lessons and Classes
We also took a look at estimated searches in Google UK each month for “boxing classes” and similar queries and found:
- There are 10,600 searches per month for “boxing classes near me” in Google UK
- There are 17,000 searches per month for “boxing gym near me”
- There are 20,600 searches per month for “boxing clubs near me”
Boxing on Social Media
Lots of us who partake in active hobbies share our passion on social media. It’s no different for the enthusiastic boxers amongst us.
At the time of writing (March 2024) there are millions of posts on Instagram with boxing related hashtags. These include:
- 34.3 million posts with the hashtag #boxing
- 4.3 million with #boxingtraining
- 2.7 million for #boxinglife
- 1.6 million for #boxingworkout
A Brilliant Workout
Whether it’s to compete or just to get a sweat on, boxing is an awesome workout. Depending on effort and type of boxing, you could burn a whopping 800 calories an hour (if you can keep it up that long!).
So if you’re not one of the 1 in 20 or so already donning a pair of boxing gloves at least monthly, could you be tempted?