The results from the first-ever National Audit of Fitness Consumers, a profile of more than 1.8 million health and fitness club users, have been revealed.

Compiled by The Leisure Database Company, the audit is claimed to be the largest survey of the health and fitness industry in the UK to date.

The types of people regularly using sports and leisure facilities have been identified alongside, by implication, those who don’t choose to participate in regular physical exercise.

The profilers used the Mosaic UK system, which classifies people into 11 groups and 61 types.

All private fitness clubs and public leisure centres were provided with a free customer profiling service, designed to help recruit new members and enable the facilities to gain a better understanding of existing clients.

The audit revealed that 99 per cent of the population already live within a 20 minute drive of a health club or leisure centre with a fitness facility.

According to the results, there are also slightly more female health club members than male and clubs are still attracting younger over older groups.

Most health club members are financially high achievers with 36 per cent earning more than £30,000 and 20 per cent earning more than £40,000 per annum.

Nearly two thirds of members – 61 per cent – are in full-time employment while 56 per cent of those audited are single and 66 per cent have no children. Details: +44 (0)20 7379 3197