Band 8.5 — Pie Charts: How Adults Spent Their Free Time (2000 vs 2020)

The two pie charts compare the proportions of leisure time that adults in one country devoted to five activities in 2000 and 2020.

Overall, while television dominated free time at the start of the period, it was ultimately overtaken by online activity, whereas the shares given to sport and socialising shifted comparatively little.

In 2000, watching television was the leading pastime, accounting for 40% of all leisure time, considerably more than any other category. Socialising made up a quarter of the total, followed by reading at 15%, whereas sport and internet use trailed behind, each representing a mere tenth. Two decades later, the picture had changed markedly.

By 2020, time spent online had almost quadrupled to 38%, thereby becoming the largest single category, whereas television's share had more than halved to 18%. Socialising slipped modestly from 25% to 20%, while sport edged up to 12%. Reading, meanwhile, fell only slightly to 12%, which meant that these two traditional pursuits together accounted for less than a third of leisure time, compared with over half in 2000.