Outdoor participation in the United States increased in 2015, adding 1 million participants for a total of 142 million Americans who recreated outdoors at least once during the year. But at the same time, the nation went on fewer total outdoor outings — 11.7 billion versus 11.8 billion in 2014 — according to the latest Outdoor Recreation Participation Report released by the Outdoor Foundation.
The results kept the country’s outdoor participation rate steady at 48.4 percent, accounting for population increases, according to the nonprofit, which surveyed 19,000 Americans.
The good news? Participation among young adults — ages 18-24 — increased 5 percentage points, the biggest boost among all age groups.
“We’re encouraged by the data from the Outdoor Participation Report, which shows that the percentage of young adults recreating outdoors is on the rise,” said Chris Fanning, executive director of the Outdoor Foundation. “We’re cautiously optimistic that this influential audience of 18-24-year-olds, which has been a top target market for the foundation for many years, will continue to build on this upward momentum.”
Almost half of Americans were moderately active in outdoor recreation, getting outside between 12 and 103 times per year. The majority of Americans participated in outdoor activities to get exercise. The second biggest motivator was the opportunity to spend time with friends and family, which highlighted the family-friendly nature of many outdoor activities, officials said.
Other highlights from the report include:
- While 10.8 million Americans started participating in one or more of the outdoor activities measured, 9.8 million stopped. There was a net gain of 1 million total participants and a churn rate of 9.8 percent.
- Running, including jogging and trail running, was the most popular activity among Americans when measured by both number of participants and by number of total annual outings.
- 54 percent of people living in the West North Central region of the U.S. participated in outdoor activities last year, making its population the most active in outdoor participation.
- Walking for fitness was, by far, the most popular crossover activity. In 2015, half of all outdoor participants also walked.
- Consistent with previous years, minorities lagged behind in outdoor participation. In general, Caucasians had the highest participation rates and African Americans had the lowest.
- Although Hispanic Americans made up a small percentage of total outdoor participants, those who did participate averaged the most annual outdoor outings per person.
