Striking Statistics About Running and Interesting Running Facts About Running Later in Life
Curious about facts about running or trends identified by running statistics?
Runners love to talk about running. Even better, runners love to chat about racing and trends in the sport.
Statistics about running tell an interesting narrative about the changing sport, including the increasing age of race participants.
Table of Contents
Running Popularity Statistics
How many people run in the United States?
In the United States, approximately 60 million people participated in running, jogging and trail running (2017). This is approximately 15% of the population. Whether participants are veteran runners or just getting started, the popularity in the U.S. is sky-high!
Source: Statistica
What is the number of runners in the world? What percentage of the population are runners (worldwide)?
An estimated total number of global runners is 621.16 million people.
Source: Ask Wonder
How many trail runners are there in the world?
According to the International Trail Running Association, there are about 1.77 million trail runners around the world.
Source: International Trail Running Association
How is participation in racing changing over time?
Running race participation peaked in 2016 (9.1 million runners). Overall results declined by 13% to 7.9% in 2018. Despite this reduction, the overall increase in the last 10 years is a staggering 57.8% from 5 to 7.9 million runners).
Source: The State of Running 2019
Facts About Running- Running Demographics
What percentage of worldwide runners are female?
In 2018, 50.24% of runners were female. Noteworthy, this was the first time in history that the number of female runners surpassed males.
Source: The State of Running 2019 from The International Institute for Race Medicine
How has the age of runners changed worldwide?
In The State of Running Report from www.runrepeat.com, the average age of runners increased from 35.2 to 39.3. These data are from over 70,000 events from 1986-2018.
Sources: www.runrepeat.com and The State of Running 2019
How has the average age of runners in races changed?
- 5k: Average age increased from 32 to 40
- 10k: Average age increased from 33 to 39
- Half Marathons: Average age increased from 37.5 to 39
- Marathons: Average age increased from 38 to 40
The percentage of racers over 40 in 5ks has grown from 26.3% to 50.4%!
Source: The State of Running 2019
The average age of marathon finishers increased from 38 to 40.
Marathon Running Statistics
What is the average age of marathon runners?
In North America, the 30-39 age group is the most popular.
Globally, the biggest age groups for marathoners are 40-49 (30.84%) and 30-39 (31.08%).
Source: www.runnerclick.com https://runnerclick.com/marathon-finishing-times-study-and-statistics/
What is the gender breakdown of marathoners?
Across the world, about one third of marathon runners are women (34.82%).
The United States has the highest proportion of female marathon runners (45%).
Source: www.runnerclick.com –https://runnerclick.com/marathon-finishing-times-study-and-statistics/
What percentage of the world’s population has run a marathon?
According to RunRepeat, approximately 0.05% of the United States population has completed a marathon.
Throughout the world, about 1.1 million runners finish a marathon each year. That equates to approximately 0.01% of the global population.
Sources: www.runrepeat.com and International Institute for Race Medicine
Random Fun Facts About Running
According to stats from Strava, Thanksgiving day is the most active running day every year in the United States. However, September 16 was the most active running day globally, probably due to the start of the fall racing season.
Source: Strava
The oldest marathon finisher was Fauja Singh. He ran the Toronto Marathon in 2011 at 100 years old.
Source: Associated Press
Running Statistics: Why Do People Run?
The motives for running appear to be shifting.
Two noteworthy trends are:
1. Slower finishing times (not by individuals but the average of all runners)
2. Runners willing to travel more than ever to race.
Source: The State of Running 2019 from The International Institute for Race Medicine
Age affects the motivational factors for running.
Older runners were compared to their younger counterparts. Researchers reported older athletes considered personal goal achievement and recognition as their least important motives for running.
Factors rated as the highest motivational importance for the older age groups included self esteem and health orientation.
Source: Age related differences in motivation of recreational runners, marathoners, and ultra-marathoners
Tracking statistics about running and facts for runners will show how the endurance sport evolves.
Be sure to check out all of our posts about older athletes who run. Make sure to bookmark our post with 52 motivational quotes for running to keep you moving all year long!
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