Walking distance to nearest green or blue space (national indicator)

Perceived walking distance to nearest green or blue space has remained unchanged long term.

Figure 5: Percentage of public who reported living within a 5-minute walk of their nearest green or blue space, 2013 to 2023.

The percentage of respondents who reported living within a 5-minute walk of their nearest green or blue space was broadly the same between 2022 and 2023 (from 70% to 68%). There was no long-term difference between 2013 and 2023.

Figure 6 below shows the range in the percentage of adults who reported living within a 5-minute walk of their nearest green or blue space in 2023, according to selected characteristics. The largest variations were by age and health. It is worth noting that the survey question is framed in terms of how long the respondent thinks it would take the interviewer (not interviewee) to walk to the nearest green or blue space to avoid variation due to differences in the ability to walk of interviewees.

16 to 24 year-olds were most likely to report living within a 5-minute walk of their nearest green or blue space, with those 75 or over least likely.

Figure 6: Percentage of adults who reported living within a 5-minute walk of their nearest green or blue space, range by selected characteristics, 2023.