Hiking participation update: AusPlay results to June 2025

Strong participation in WA: Hiking / Bushwalking continues to be one of the strongest contributors to keeping Western Australians active. The great increase in participation levels achieved during and after the COVID pandemic has been maintained. During 2024-2025, 427,909 adults (17.6%, or 1 in 5.6) participated in bushwalking, a slight increase on the high level of the previous year, and slightly above the average national level of 17.2% participation. WA accounts for 11% of Australia’s bushwalking participation. 

High ranking: Nationally and in WA, bushwalking retains its place of recent years as the third most popular activity out of 142 sport and non-sport activities in terms of adult participation, ranking only behind Walking (first place) and fitness (second place).  Running/jogging (16.5%) ranks just one place behind Bushwalking. (The survey does not identify trail running as a separate activity from running.) Participation in cycling remains fifth. Mountain biking ranks outside the top 20 activities.[/read]

Age distribution: Participation by age in bushwalking in WA has remained consistent with the previous survey (within 1-2%) :

Gender participation: This latest survey indicates a continuing gender imbalance in bushwalking participation in WA of 58% female:42% male. This imbalance is more pronounced than the national ratio of 55% Female:45% Male.

Participation with disability: Australia-wide, 11.8% of adults with a disability participated in bushwalking compared to 18.5% without a disability.

Indigenous participation:  Australia-wide, 11.5% of adults identifying as indigenous participated in bushwalking compared to the overall partcipation rate of 17.2%.

Informal versus organised bushwalking: The survey data indicate that 89% of adults participating in bushwalking in WA do so informally – with friends or family, or solo – rather than as part of organised groups. ‘Participation expenditure’ data from an earlier survey also suggested that 93% of bushwalking participation was payment-free.

Frequency and duration of bushwalks: Australia-wide, 72% of bushwalking participations were for walks of two hours or more. 39% were for walks of three hours or more. 11% of participants took part in bushwalking at least  once per week.

Injuries: Australia-wide, only 4.1% of adult participants experienced any injury while bushwalking and a high proportion (77%) of injuries were minor, such as sprains and blisters. More serious injuries (eg head injuries/concussion) were very rare i.e. 0.1% of participants, or 1 in 964; compared with 1.6% (1 in 63) for Australian football, 0.77% for Cricket (1 in 130) and 0.27% for Cycling (1 in 370).

Barriers to participation: Non-participants rank “poor health/injury” and “increasing age/too old” as the two main reasons for not participating in any physical activity. Walking and bushwalking are accessible activities for people of all fitness levels and ages, even those who are ageing.

Non-sports versus sports activities: In WA 32.5% of adults participated in non-sport related physical activities only, compared to 14.3% in sport-related activities only. 40% participated in both.

Survey margins of error: The AusPlay margins of error for the latest survey are ~2.5% (~80,000 +/-) for the national participation estimates and ~7% (~25,000 +/-) for the state estimates given above.