The percentage of people employed in the field of sport in Cyprus passed the EU’s average in 2020 compared to the 2015 numbers, according to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service.

The share of people working in sport in Cyprus increased from 0.5% in 2015 to 0.9% in 2020. In the EU, the average percentage rose from 0.6% in 2015 to 0.7% in 2020.

In 2020, 1.3 million people were employed in the field of sport in the EU, accounting for 0.7% of total employment. The EU countries with the highest share of people working in the field of sport were Sweden (1.6%), Finland (1.4%), Spain and the Netherlands (both 1.0%).

Between 2015 and 2020, employment in sport rose on average by 1.6% each year, compared with an 0.8% increase for total employment.

This represents an increase of around 100,000 people employed in sports, with Italy, Spain, Greece and Germany accounting for more than half of this increase. During this period, the number of people employed in sport increased in 21 out of 27 EU countries.

Nevertheless, in 2020, employment in sport decreased 4.0% in comparison with 2019, against a 1.3% decrease recorded for total employment.

One third of workers in sport are young

Also, 33% of those employed in sport are young (aged 15-29), almost twice the share observed for overall employment (17%). People aged 30-64 represented the biggest share of workers in this field (64%), while they make up 81% of overall employment.

Women accounted for 43% of EU employment in the field of sport, reflecting the structure of the total employed population (46%)