Sport and Social Inclusion: An Analysis of Public Investments and Sport Participation in Europe

In recent years, a growing body of research emphasizes the role of sport in promoting social cohesion and community integration. Sport participation offers individuals the opportunity to develop their social networks and foster a sense of community. Also, sport promotes positive values such as fairness, equality, and solidarity, particularly among vulnerable groups (Donnelly and Coakley, 2002).

In this context, public policies and investments in sports infrastructure are pivotal in encouraging access to sports activities for vulnerable segments of society. Public spending on sports can potentially reduce some economic and social barriers by making sport more inclusive and accessible. However, the intersection between investments in sport and actual sport participation is far from being clear. In this paper, we address two research questions: first, does public spending on sport drive sport participation? And second, is this correlation linear across European countries?

We analyze data from EUROSTAT on public spending at both central (government) and peripheral (regional) levels on sports infrastructure and data on sport participation across different European countries. Using a comparative approach, we identify clusters of countries that differ in terms of both the amount of public expenditure on sport and sport participation rates. We observe significant differences between two clusters, namely the Nordic and Mediterranean/Eastern European countries. While in Nordic countries, sport participation is relatively high regardless of the level of public spending, conversely, in Mediterranean and Eastern European ones, lower public expenditure on sport appears to correlate with lower levels of sport participation. This finding suggests that public spending alone does not sufficiently explain the variation in sport participation across Europe. Other relevant variables, play a significant role in driving sport participation. Policymakers can use information from this research to redesign public investment in sports and leisure activities.