European Sport Index: the social significance of sport in 28 European countries

This study presents the results of a research project which aimed to operationalize and compare the social significance of sport in the 28 member states of the European Union. To this end, the European Sport Index was constructed. It contains seven indicators which depict the social significance of recreational sport, club sport, school sport, the populations' access to sport, the socio-political and economic significance of sport, and the significance of professional sport within the observed countries. These indicators were ranked through the benchmarking method from the field of statistics. The resulting ranking of the EU member countries via the Sport Index puts Germany and France on top, while Bulgaria resides in the last place.