Sports Spending Peaks in 50s: Golf & Yoga Lead the Way

The age group that spends the most money on sports activities was found to be those in their 50s, not those in their 20s and 30s. By industry, the popularity of swimming and gyms has risen sharply since last year, while the amount spent on golf and bowling has decreased. This is the result of NH Nonghyup Bank analyzing 219 million card payment data of 5.14 million Nonghyup Card customers from 2023 to 2025.

Customers in the sports industry were male at 64.1% and female at 35.9%, making up a larger proportion of men. By industry, billiards (87%) and fishing (82%) were dominated by men. Bowling, golf (over 66%), and sports centers (53%) were also found to be used more by men. Industries with a high proportion of women included yoga (61% of women) and swimming (57%). Nonghyup Bank explained, “It was found that men prefer hobby-type sports, and women prefer management-type and health-type sports.”

By age group, people in their 50s had the highest proportion of users in the sports industry at 25.7% of the total. Those in their 60s or older followed at 23.1%, followed by those in their 20s (20.0%), 40s (19.2%), and 30s (12.1%). Nonghyup Bank explained that while the proportion of people in their 50s and older with income and time to spare was high, the proportion of people in their 30s who were busy with work and childcare was the lowest.

The sports industries with the largest expenditures were golf and yoga, with the annual usage amount per customer being 4.07 million won and 2.05 million won, respectively. In terms of the amount spent per payment, yoga was ahead of golf (138,000 won) at 296,000 won.

The annual usage amount by age group was 1.78 million won for those in their 50s, which was found to be the age group that spends the most money on sports. This was followed by people in their 60s or older (KRW 1.46 million), people in their 40s (KRW 1.36 million), people in their 30s (KRW 950,000), and people in their 20s (KRW 560,000), showing that they invested more in sports activities in proportion to their income level.

The industries with the largest increase in usage amount over the past year were swimming (5.9% increase compared to the previous year) and sports centers (7.9% increase). The two industries in particular have shown an increase in usage amounts since July of last year, which is believed to be because swimming pool and gym usage fees have been included in income deductions since July of last year. The use of swimming has increased significantly, especially among younger generations in their 30s (38.8% increase compared to the previous year) and 20s (12.5% increase). On the other hand, bowling and golf usage decreased by 16.6% and 6.3% compared to the previous year. Golf, in particular, had the largest decrease in spending (9.9%) among those in their 60s or older.