The bar chart below shows the percentage of Australian men and women in different age groups who did regular physical activity in 2010.
This essay question is from Cambridge IELTS 12 Test 5 Writing Task 1.
Percentage of Australian men and women doing regular physical activity: 2010
Sample Essay
The bar chart displays the percentages of males and females in Australia in different age brackets who exercised regularly in 2010.
Overall, while women’s participation was highest in the 45-54 age bracket, that of men peaked among 15- to 24-year-olds. In addition, a higher percentage of women than men exercised regularly in every age group except the youngest.
47.7 percent of women in the lowest age bracket took regular exercise. Their participation then went up steadily with increasing age, reaching its peak in the 45-54 age group, at 53.3 percent. Above that, it started to drop, with only 47.1 percent of those in the highest age group exercising regularly.
Male participation was higher in the lowest age group, at 52.8 percent, than in any other. This was also the only group in which there was a higher percentage of males than females taking regular exercise. Men’s participation rate then fell to its lowest level among 35- to 44-year-olds, at 39.5 percent, before climbing to 46.7 percent among the over-65s. This rate was very close to that of females in the same age bracket.