Sport in Zug Canton 2020

How sporty are the people of Zug?

Ta-da! The Zug Canton results from Sport Study Switzerland 2020 are out! In June, our article “Sport Study Switzerland 2020” reported on how sporty the Swiss population is. We are delighted to be able to present the specific results for Zug Canton.

General notes on the evolution of sporting activity in Zug Canton

• The population of Zug has a top ranking for their sporting activities in comparison to the rest of Switzerland.
• 78 percent of Zug residents do sports at least once per week. Just as many people are physically active for two or more hours in one week.
• 55 percent of Zug residents do sports several times a week and achieve an overall total of at least three hours of sporting activity.
• A mere 11 percent of Zug residents admit to doing no sport and describe themselves as not active in sport.
• Sporting activity in Zug Canton was surveyed for the first time, which is why there are no reference figures from earlier surveys. The current figures for the population of Zug show, however, that sporting activity in Zug Canton is even higher than in Switzerland overall.
• 78 percent of Zug Canton’s residents comply with the Federal Office for Sport and Health’s exercise recommendation of two-and-a-half hours of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes of intensive physical activity, per week.

The women of Zug are more physically active than the men

• While women have caught up with men on the national level over the last six years, the number of very active women in Zug Canton is even higher than the number of men.
• 57 percent of Zug women and 53 percent of Zug men do sport several times per week for a total of three or more hours.
• No great difference between the sexes was identified, neither for those not active in sport nor for those only occasionally active.

Sport in the second half of life is booming

• The increase in sporting activity in the second half of life is particularly pronounced, and at least partly responsible for Zug citizens being more than averagely active in the national comparison.
• The 45-59 age group is not just very active in sport, but is also more sporty than the youngest age group, those between 15 and 29 years old, with regard to the number of people not active in sport.
• Above all, Zug women aged over 45 and in part also Zug men between 45 and 59 seem to be responsible for the above-average sporting activity in the Zug population.

Clear differences between nationalities

• The home-grown population turn out to be more active than foreigners living in Zug Canton.
• Among Zug residents with a Swiss passport, not only is there a higher number of people active in sports, there are also fewer people not active in sport than in the population of foreign residents.
• While the resident foreign men who are very active in sport take the lead over women (50% vs. 44%), it is the women in the home-grown population who are more active (60% vs. 55%).

Regional differences within Zug Canton barely exist

• When we compare the regions of Zug, only very few differences come to light. Only in the Bergregion, Cham and the rest of the Talregion do you find people somewhat more active in sport than the Zug average.
• By contrast, Baar and the city of Zug fall beneath the canton average.
• This finding is further confirmed by size of municipality – the two largest municipalities show a tendency for less sporting activity.

Sport for health

• In Zug Canton, 67 percent of people do sport for their health.
• Zug people also have other important motives for their sporting activity, for example fitness (61%), the joy of exercise (50%) or being outside in the fresh air (57%).
• More than half of the Zug population use sporting activity to relax and de-stress, and because of the positive effects on body weight and appearance.
• By contrast, the social aspect and being motivated to achieve are not primary reasons for the majority of people doing sport in Zug Canton.
• For the over-65s, in addition, maintaining their day-to-day mobility is a more important motive for doing sport.
• Regarding motives for doing sport, the differences from the rest of Switzerland are barely recognisable. The social aspect and motivation to achieve alone seem to be less important in sporting activities for Zug residents, unlike the rest of Switzerland.
• Nevertheless, around a sixth of the Zug population does sport in order to compete with others and for the fun of participating in contests.
• Although woman have caught up in general sporting activities, men continue to form a clear majority in competitive sport.

What concepts do the people of Zug associate with sport?

• The Zug population most frequently associate sport with exercise (92%), health (84%), fitness (68%), fun (62%), feeling physical (57%), training (55%), self-discipline (53%) and effort (52%).
• Unlike the Swiss population overall, the people of Zug associate the concept of sport more frequently with the concepts of fitness, feeling physical, fun and self-discipline, while obligation is mentioned less often.
• The positive, health-and-fitness-oriented associations are a good match for the above-average sporting activity exhibited by the population of Zug.

Multi-sports activities in the Zug population

• Like the rest of the Swiss population, the people of Zug are enjoy multiple sports.
• On average, people in Zug Canton are involved in 4.5 different types of sport. Among people who do sport, the figure, unsurprisingly, is even higher, at 4.9.
• The “Swiss pentathlon”, consisting of cycling (47%), hiking (56%), skiing (36%), swimming (44%) and running/jogging (30%) are the most popular types of sport in both Switzerland and Zug Canton, and at least 30 percent of the population are involved in them.
• It is striking that all the sports of the “Swiss pentathlon” are pursued a little more often in Zug Canton than in the rest of Switzerland.
• On top of swimming, other water-sports like surfing, diving, rowing and canoeing enjoy higher than average popularity, as do strength training, cross-country skiing, golf, ice-skating, inline skating and squash.

Reasons for not doing sport

• The most common reasons why the people of Zug don’t do sport are lack of time and being overworked.
• Other interests or not enjoying sport are the reasons for not doing sporting activities for more than a fifth of Zug Canton’s non-sporting residents. At least a tenth consider themselves to be otherwise fit, but would prefer to spend time with their families, are prevented from doing sports by inconvenient work times or have health problems;
• conversely, sports facilities that are difficult to get to and that have unsuitable opening hours, or bad memories of sport are barely considered reasons for sporting inactivity in Zug Canton.
• Hiking is the favourite form of exercise among Zug residents who are not active in sport. Around a quarter of Zug Canton’s residents who don’t do sport admit to going for a hike occasionally. At least 10 percent can be found swimming or cycling every now and then, and skiing, dancing and walking (the dog) were named as occasional activities. None of these forms of exercise, however, were pursued to any great extent or in an intensity that would allow those doing them to describe themselves as active in sport.
• Of those who do no sport, 34 percent of men and 37 percent of women would like to take up a sport in future or engage in it more intensively. Fitness and health are the most common reasons given for this.

Independent sport is popular

• 45 percent of Zug residents describe themselves as “independent sportsmen/sportswomen” and do their sports outside of gyms and sports clubs.
• However, for 44 percent of Zug Canton’s sporty people, at least some of their sports are organised, in a club (16%), a gym (21%) or both in a club and a gym (7%).
• The proportion of “organised sportsmen/sportswomen” in Zug Canton is therefore clearly higher than the Swiss average (36%).

Sports clubs are more popular with men than women in Zug Canton

• For all age groups, men are more strongly represented in Zug’s sports clubs than women.
• Compared to the whole of Switzerland, however, Zug’s young women aged 15 to 29 are evidently comparatively more likely to be active in a sports club.
• In the Bergregion, Baar and Zug, sports clubs are less popular than average, while those in Cham and the rest of the Talregion enjoy above-average popularity.

Gyms in Zug Canton are more popular than in Switzerland overall

• Compared to the population of Switzerland, the people of Zug can be more frequently found in the gym, regardless of their age.
• The popularity of sports clubs tends to go up with increasing municipality size, while gym membership is becoming a little more popular.

Private providers are more popular with Zug’s women than with Zug’s men.

• Private providers, such as dance studios or yoga schools, are used by 16 percent of Zug’s population. Zug’s women are considerably more often found in these facilities (23%) than Zug’s men (7%).
• It is similar with open sports activities that anyone can participate in, which 7 percent of Zug residents make use of.

Outdoor sport is popular

• 46 percent of Zug residents do sport at least 1x per week in the open air.
• 34 percent of Zug residents do sport within their own four walls at least 1x per week and 10 percent at least 1x per month.
• Zug people use almost all sports infrastructure more than the national average. The disproportionate use of lake and river bathing areas is particularly striking. The proximity of Lake Zug and Lake Ägeri and the popularity of different water-sports go some way to explaining this.
• It is also fascinating that 41 percent of Zug people have visited a private gym or sports centre in the last year, while only 26 percent of people across Switzerland have done the same.

Flexibility in sports is also high in Zug Canton

• Like the rest of Switzerland, Zug people have a great need to be able to choose their sports time flexibly.
• Although sports are mostly played in the evenings (48%), a good quarter of the Zug population no longer has a fixed time for doing sport in general.
• However, doing sport in the morning is also popular in Zug Canton – 14 percent of people do their sports in the early morning and 26 percent later in the morning.
• Only 11 percent of people do sport in their lunchbreaks and 22 percent prefer doing sport in the afternoon.

And all this is only an excerpt from the results for Zug Canton. You can find information on satisfaction with the sports infrastructure, sports services provision and sports promotion in chapter 8 of the report.
A total of 845 people living in Zug Canton, aged from 15 to over 74, participated in the “Sport Switzerland 2020” study. Of these, 777 people in Zug Canton were surveyed, while the remaining people from the cross-Switzerland survey were added because they live in Zug Canton. You can find more information about the methodology and sampling in the report.