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What percentage of people go to the gym?

By Stelvo Team · · 5 min read

Short answer: in the United States, 26.1% of people aged six and older — 81 million — belonged to a gym, studio or other fitness facility in 2025, and more than 100 million used one at least once. The UK is at 18% of adults, Europe as a whole at 9.3% of the population, and the big emerging markets are far lower: Brazil 7%, China 3.6%, India 0.9%. Membership is a minority habit everywhere, and a fast-growing one almost everywhere.

What percentage of Americans go to the gym?

One in four. A record 81 million Americans belonged to a fitness facility in 2025, 26.1% of the population aged six and older, up 5.2% on the year; counting non-members who used day passes and guest visits, more than 100 million people — over 30% — used a facility during the year (Health & Fitness Association, 2026). The number has climbed every year since the pandemic: 72.9 million members and 23.7% penetration in 2023 (HFA, 2024), 77 million and 24.9% in 2024 (HFA, 2025).

Gen Z leads: adults aged 18–24 had the highest membership penetration of any age group, 35.5%, while the over-65s were the fastest-growing group, up 8.6% in a year (HFA, 2026).

What percentage of people go to the gym in the UK and Europe?

Market Members Share of population Source
United States (2025) 81 million 26.1% of people aged 6+ HFA, 2026
United Kingdom (2025) 12.2 million 18% of over-16s ukactive, 2026
Germany (2025) 12.4 million — EuropeActive/Deloitte, 2026
Spain (2025) 7.1 million — EuropeActive/Deloitte, 2026
Europe (2025) 75.5 million 9.3% of population; 11% of people 15+ EuropeActive/Deloitte, 2026
Brazil 14.7 million 7% HFA Global Report, 2026
China ~50 million 3.6% HFA Global Report, 2026
India 13.65 million 0.9% HFA Global Report, 2026

In the UK, 12.2 million people over 16 are members of a health and fitness club — 18% of adults, up from 14.6% in 2022, 16.0% in 2023 and 16.9% in 2024 — and clubs recorded 679 million visits in 2025 (ukactive, 2026). Across Europe, memberships reached 75.5 million at the end of 2025, 9.3% of the total population and 11% of people aged 15 and over, with Germany (12.4 million), the UK (12.2 million) and Spain (7.1 million) the largest markets (EuropeActive/Deloitte, 2026). The HFA's 2026 Global Report puts Brazil at 14.7 million members and 7% penetration, China at about 50 million and 3.6%, and India at 13.65 million and 0.9% — with Indian membership projected to grow 11% a year to 2030 (HFA, 2026).

Is gym membership growing or declining?

Growing, on every continent the industry measures. Global memberships climbed 6% in 2024 and revenue 8% (HFA Global Report, 2025); in 2025 median operator revenue rose 10.7% and median net membership 6.1%, and 92.3% of operators expect revenue to rise again in 2026 (HFA Global Report, 2026). European memberships grew 5.8% in 2025 and US memberships 5.2%.

Do 75% of Americans not exercise?

No, but most don't exercise enough. In 2020, 46.9% of US adults met the aerobic guideline and 24.2% met both the aerobic and the muscle-strengthening guideline; 46.3% met neither (CDC/NCHS, 2022). On any given day, 23.4% of Americans aged 15 and over take part in sports, exercise or recreation (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026), and the sports industry's tracking puts 32% at the 150-minute weekly guideline (SFIA, 2026). Gym members are well ahead of the average: 49.4% meet the aerobic guideline versus 24.5% of non-users (HFA, 2026).

What percentage of the world goes to the gym?

No single agency counts every gym on earth, so the honest answer is a range built from the markets that are measured: over a quarter of Americans, roughly one in ten Europeans and low single digits in the most populous countries. Globally, 31% of adults — about 1.8 billion people — do not reach the recommended level of physical activity at all (WHO, 2024), which is a much larger group than everyone who holds a membership.

FAQ

How many people go to an average gym?

US commercial fitness facilities averaged more than 184,000 visits per location in 2025 (HFA FIT Tracker, 2026); Planet Fitness averaged about 7,200 members per club (20.8 million members across 2,896 clubs, SEC filing, 2026).

What percentage of gym members are women vs men?

The HFA's public summaries report that penetration rose across every gender in 2025 but do not publish the split; the one gender figure available is that 7.3 million women used personal training in 2024, up 15.9% (HFA, 2025).

Which country has the most gym members?

Of the markets with published counts, the United States (81 million), followed by China (about 50 million), with Germany and the UK at just over 12 million each.

Sources

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