Time spent in leisure activities, 2010

On an average day, nearly everyone age 15 and over engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Of those who engaged in leisure activities, men spent more time in these activities (5.8 hours) than did women (5.1 hours).

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Men were more likely than women to participate in sports, exercise, or recreation on any givenday—22 percent compared with 16 percent. On the days that they participated, men also spent more time in these activities than did women—1.9 hours compared with 1.3 hours.

For the civilian population age 15 and over, watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.7 hours per day), accounting for about half of all leisure time, on average. Socializing, such as visiting with friends or attending or hosting social events, was the next most common leisure activity, accounting for nearly three-quarters of an hour per day.

These data are from the American Time Use Survey and refer to the civilian population age 15 and over. To learn more, see "American Time Use Survey—2010 Results" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-0919.