Greater Manchester Activity Levels Nov 22-23: Gender

Women in Greater Manchester have had consistently higher levels of inactivity than men* as recorded in the Sport England Active Lives data.

National Comparison:  

Greater Manchester has seen a bigger drop in female inactivity since the pandemic compared to the national average, reducing by 2.3 percentage points from 2020-21 in comparison to 0.9 percentage points nationally.  

However, inactivity levels remain higher than the national average, while England’s inactivity rate for women has stabilised at 27%, GM’s has stalled increasing slightly to 28.8% in 2022-23.

Greater Manchester comparison by gender: 

Overall:  

Women in Greater Manchester have had consistently higher levels of inactivity than men* as recorded in the Sport England Active Lives data, the gap fluctuates across the years but remains around 2-5 percentage points.  

Pre pandemic:  

Between 2015-16 to 2018-19 both males and females in GM have seen a gradual decrease of inactivity levels. In these years men had a slightly faster rate of reduction in inactivity than women reaching 24.8% in 2018-19 whilst women were at 27.3%. 

Post pandemic 

The gap between male and female inactivity levels in Greater Manchester in 2022-23 was 1.7 percentage points. The gap has reduced significantly since the pandemic (2.7 percentage points in 2019-20) and has remained stable since 2021.

Local comparison by gender:  

There are notable disparities in female inactivity across GM boroughs, like the GM wide picture female inactivity is generally higher than males (the case in 7 out of the 10 boroughs).  

Rochdale has the highest female inactivity rate at 37.3%, closely followed by Oldham at 36.1%. Both areas are significantly higher than the GM average of 28.8%.  

Salford (22.5%), Stockport (21.5%), and Trafford (22.3%) have the lowest female inactivity rates in GM.  

Gender gap:  

Most boroughs show a gender gap, with female inactivity higher than male inactivity. The gap is most pronounced in Rochdale, Oldham, and Tameside.  

Manchester and Bury have the smallest differences between male and female inactivity with rates around 26-27% for both genders.



*This data represents overall inactivity rates for all men and women across Greater Manchester. However, inactivity levels can vary significantly within different communities and areas. Factors such as employment status, income, ethnicity and access to facilities can all influence activity levels. This highlights the need for more detailed breakdowns to understand and address inequalities across GM.  

If you have questions about this data please email: [email protected]

Published March 2025