Do you know who got the most schools on the MOVE on European School Sport Day in 2022? Now that the final results have come in, we are eager to present you the top countries with the best stats in 2022. Statistics for many people can sometimes be boring or alarming. But not this time! 

It took three years of hard work, effort and sustained determination to get back to the pre-pandemic participation rates, in terms of both the number of schools and school children getting on the MOVE on European School Sport Day (ESSD). Relying on our dedicated network of National Coordinators, we will stay on this the course and we are confident that the numbers will continue to go up in the coming years!

ISCA produced this inforgraphic capturing the top-line numbers from 2022 as part of our ESSD communication package.

Let the numbers speak for themselves
ESSD in 2022 was not only special because this was the very first edition when not one, but two focus topic themed toolkits were published (here and here), but also our network came back on track with participation rates equal to 2019 (pre-COVID numbers).

In Europe alone, 2,536,881 children celebrated ESSD2022 on 30 September and, worldwide, 2,574,681 students from 13,631 schools in 41 countries joined in. The overall participation in the event climbed significantly – by 17% (2,198,000 to 2,574,000) after a 10% recovery in 2021 during the pandemic. 

Since 2015, we have come a long way. Over the past – almost one – decade of working together with our founding partners and National Coordinators, we have inspired not only schools and teachers, but also children and local community members to think outside of the box and find creative ways to engage in physical activity. 

However, calculating participation rates, different statistics, and using them to evaluate whether there was positive or negative trajectory compared to the previous years would not make sense if we did not shine the light on the countries that showed the most dedication to leveraging the power of sports to drive meaningful impact and advance social engagement, especially among young people.

Countries with the highest numbers of participating schools:
I.    Belgium (2991)
II.    Poland (1889)
III.    Hungary (1381)
Narrowly missing out on the medal, Denmark (1300) came in 4th.

Top 3 countries in terms of participating children:
I.    Denmark (472,370)
II.    Spain (389,874)
III.    Portugal (366,000)

Achieving a personal best, Hungary came in 4th by getting 294,159 students on the MOVE!

The vision behind the concept of the European School Sport Day has never only been to commemorate its predecessor, the Hungarian School Sport Day. The Hungarian School Sport Federation and its founding partners have always envisaged engaging potential future participants who will be able to ensure the sustainability of the events, not only in Europe, but also world-wide. Therefore, along with the increasing number of participating schools and children, it is of utmost importance to mention the newest ambassadors of ESSD both in and outside of Europe. The newcomers of ESSD2022 are:

•    Bosnia and Herzegovina 
•    Honduras 
•    Kosovo 
•    Montenegro and
•    Palestine.

They deserve a huge round of applause for adding more colours to the ESSD network with their presence for their efforts and dedication, allowed ESSD to set foot on three continent! 

Check out the recap video of the world-wide event of ESSD below.