Sport Participation by Older People in Spain, Social Class and Economic Expenditure Made

Abstract

The subject of this communication was to investigate older people participation in sport and the economic spending made by the elderly depending on their social class. A questionnaire measuring personal, social and environmental characteristics was completed by a random sample of older adults in Spain. The main empirical finding is that in Spain, 17.4% of older people (65 years or more) are weekly practitioners of physical activity. The results show that over the half of this older sport participants do not make any economic expense in the physical activity they do, 25 percent of this older adults spend less than 15� and the other 25 percent spend more than 15� per month (most of then less than 30�). This distribution of expense seems to be differentiated according to the social class.