Swimming is now Ireland’s most popular sport, with more adults swimming than playing soccer, Gaelic football or golf, according to a new study published by the ESRI today.

According to Swimming in Ireland: A Statistical Analysis 7% of Irish adults over the age of 16 take part in swimming at least once a week, a percentage which means about 230,000 weekly swimmers.

The study was based on surveys and over 70,000 interviews and was funded by the Irish Sports Council, the ESRI and Swim Ireland.

Dr Pete Lunn, an economist and one of the authors of the study, believes the results suggest swimming “makes an important contribution to public health”. Lunn also talked of the potential benefits of promoting swimming to the public and giving the sport “a key role in policy to increase physical activity.”

The report showed that at younger ages men were more drawn to competition than purely health reasons for engaging in sport. As a result more males played competitive sport, while more women were regularly swimming for fitness. However, as the ages go up the gender gap begins to narrow as men become more concerned with their health and undertake more activity with it in mind.

The report also noted a socio-economic divide in the sport. It found that those with higher education and more highly skilled jobs were more likely to be regular swimmers. The report followed on from these findings by suggesting that policymakers should make efforts to increase participation levels in lower socio-economic groups.