Basketball statistics Australia: how many people play basketball, adults and children

Reading the two figures together

One in every four basketball participants in the AusPlay figures is a child under 15, a higher child share than tennis carries. The child figure is organised basketball reported by a parent, so it is closer to a registration-style count than the adult figure is. The adult figure includes informal play, so the real ratio of organised child players to organised adult players is likely higher still. When a story needs a single basketball number, use the adult figure and say it is adults aged 15 and over.

Trend: level stated, direction not

This page prints a level, not a growth rate. The basketball figure verified for it is the calendar year 2025 release, and comparing it to an earlier financial-year AusPlay figure would produce a percentage that partly measures the change of reporting period rather than the change in play. A like-for-like year-on-year comparison will be available when the Australian Sports Commission publishes the next calendar-year release, and it will be added here with both dates shown.

The survey behind the basketball numbers

AusPlay is run for the Australian Sports Commission as a rolling telephone survey, with interviews spread across the whole year so that seasonal sports are not over- or under-counted by the timing of fieldwork. Basketball respondents aged 15 and over are asked what they played in the last 12 months, how many times, and whether it was organised by a club, association, centre or school. Child data comes from a parent or guardian reporting on one child in the household, organised activity only. The sample is weighted to Australian Bureau of Statistics population benchmarks, and the CY2025 release, covering January to December 2025, was published on 30 April 2026.

• Fieldwork spread across the calendar year, so winter and summer competitions are both captured.
• Adults answer for themselves; a parent answers for a child aged 0-14.
• Estimates are weighted to population benchmarks and carry a sampling margin.
• Published 30 April 2026; period January to December 2025.

Citing the basketball figures

Quote the numbers as published, for non-commercial use, with the attribution line the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence requires:

• Australian Sports Commission - www.ausport.gov.au
• Suggested citation: Australian Sports Commission, AusPlay calendar year 2025 results (released 30 April 2026), basketball, adults 15+ and children 0-14.
• Link the AusPlay page at the ASC Clearinghouse for Sport so readers can reach the full tables.

What it means for a basketball association or stadium

342,000 organised child players is a scheduling problem before it is anything else: domestic competitions, development squads and school-holiday clinics all compete for the same courts and the same volunteer coaches. Stadiums that let a parent book a clinic place or a casual court online, with a waitlist that fills a dropped spot automatically, spend their volunteer hours on the game rather than on the phone.