Official Statistics

The People and Nature Survey for England: Monthly interim indicators for May 2021

Updated 17 November 2023

Applies to England

1. Main findings

• In May, national lockdown restrictions continued to be lifted in England and 63% of adults had visited a green and natural space in the last 14 days.
• A total of 348,061,800 visits were made by adults to green and natural spaces in May. This was less than the number of visits made in April (391,548,093).
• Twenty three per cent of adults had not visited a green and natural space in the last 14 days.
• The likelihood of visiting a green and natural space differed by household income and age group.
• Of those with a household income of more than £50,000, 75% reported a visit to a green and natural space. This is compared to 44% of those with a household income of less than £15,000.
• 30% of adults aged 65+ did not make a visit to a green and natural space in the last 14 days compared to 17% of 25-39 year olds.
• The main reasons for not spending time outdoors in the last 14 days were ‘Bad / poor weather’ (46%) and ‘Stayed at home to stop coronavirus spreading / Government restrictions’ (23%).
• Just over four in ten adults said nature/wildlife and visiting green and natural spaces had been even more important to their wellbeing since coronavirus restrictions began.

2. Other pages in this release

The People and Nature Survey for England, led by Natural England, is one of the main sources of data and statistics on how people experience and think about the environment. It began collecting data via an online panel (adults aged 16 years and older) in April 2020, and runs continuously, in line with Government Statistical Service guidance on data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Official Statistics in this publication are based on a survey of 2,082 adult respondents conducted online continuously between May 1st and May 31st 2021 (inclusive). Throughout this bulletin, “this month” and “May” refers to this period.

Alongside this publication, a spreadsheet containing all the latest indicators for Year 2 of the survey (April 2021 – May 2021) has been published. Data from Year 1 of the survey (April 2020 – March 2021) can also be viewed. These figures have been updated with the specific People and Nature weight, and so can be directly compared to Year 2 figures. See ‘Methods and Limitations’ for more details.

Further information about the People and Nature Survey for England (including information on methods, strengths and limitations, and Official Statistics status) is available. To receive updates on the survey, including data releases and publications, sign-up via the People and Nature User Hub.

Results from this survey for May covered a period of national easing of lockdown restrictions in England. This page summarises the latest advice on accessing green spaces safely.

3. Official Statistics

Initial releases from the People and Nature Survey that used an interim weighting method were released as Experimental Statistics. This status highlighted to users that these Official Statistics were in the National Statistics testing phase and that Natural England was still working on further developing the methodologies used in their production whilst ensuring adherence to the Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code).

After one year of data collection, we have refined data quality assurances to capture additional metrics on data quality and finalised an optimal and specific weighting method for the People and Nature Survey. As such, releases from the People and Nature Survey that use the specific weighting method (as opposed to the interim weighing method) are no longer designated as ‘Experimental’ (a subset of Official Statistics) and are instead designated as Official Statistics. For further justifications behind this change, please see our brief statement.

4. Time spent in green and natural spaces

Figure 1 shows the proportion of adults in England who had taken a visit to a green and natural space during the previous fortnight, since the beginning of the survey.

Sixty three per cent of adults in England said that they had spent time outside in green and natural spaces in the previous 14 days. This was down from 68% in April. In May, twenty three per cent of adults had not spent any time in green and natural spaces in the previous 14 days, which was similar to April (22%). The proportion of adults not spending any time in green and natural spaces has seen a largely downward trend since April 2020 when it was 46% (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The proportion of adults in England (weighted percentage) visiting a green and natural space in the last 14 days. In May, 63% per cent of adults in England said that they had spent time outside in green and natural space in comparison to 23% who had not.

Figure notes
Source:
Q6 / No_Of_Visits: How many times, if at all, did you make this type of visit to green and natural spaces in the last 14 days?
(1) Data collected between April 1st 2020 and May 31st 2021 (inclusive).
(2) The samples for this question were 1,868 (April 2020), 1,898 (May 2020), 1,872 (June 2020), 1,889 (July 2020), 1,856 (August 2020), 1,866 (September 2020), 1,854 (October 2020), 1,869 (November 2020), 1,863 (December 2020), 1,860 (January 2021), 1,868 (February 2021), 1,900 (March 2021), 1,873 (April 2021) and 1,882 (May 2021) respondents.
(3) See Glossary for 95% confidence interval of the mean.

Spending time outdoors varied between demographic groups. Figure 2 shows the proportion of adults in England who had taken a visit to a green and natural space during the previous fortnight by age. Of those aged 65+, 30% did not make a visit to a green and natural space in the last 14 days in comparison to 17% of 25-39 year olds. This was similar to the previous month where 33% of those aged 65+ did not make a visit compared to 16% of 25-39 year olds.

Figure 2: Proportion of adults in England (weighted percentage) visiting a green and natural space in the last 14 days. In May, 30% of adults aged 65+ did not make a visit to a green and natural space in the last 14 days in comparison to 17% of 25-39 year olds.

Figure notes

Source:
Q6 / No_Of_Visits: How many times, if at all, did you make this type of visit to green and natural spaces in the last 14 days?
Q62 (S_Q2): What was your age last birthday?
Q62 (S_Q2_bands): In that case, which of these age groups do you fall into?
(1) Data collected between May 1st and May 31st 2021 (inclusive).
(2) The samples for this question were 1,882 (May) respondents.
(3) Error bars represent the 95% confidence interval of the mean (see Glossary).

Eleven per cent of adults reported that they had not spent any time in green and natural spaces in the previous month (see Figure 3), similar to the previous two months (11% in April and 12% in March).

For adults that had spent free time outside in green and natural spaces, just over half (51%) had visited an urban green space, 34% had visited the countryside, 33% had visited woods, and 30% had visited rivers, lakes or canals during the last month.

Figure 3: Proportion of adults in England (weighted percentage) visiting different types of green and natural spaces within the last month (April 2020 - May 2021). Urban green spaces have been the most frequently visited across all months. Note that only a subset of types of green and natural spaces has been presented - see the supporting data for all types of green and natural spaces visited during the last month.

Figure notes

Source:
Q2 / M1_Q2: Which of the following type(s) of green and natural spaces have you visited during the last month?
(1) Data collected between April 1st 2020 and May 31st 2021 (inclusive).
(2) The samples for this question were 2,017 (April 2020), 2,015 (May 2020), 2,001 (June 2020), 2,024 (July 2020), 2,009 (August 2020), 2,021 (September 2020), 2,021 (October 2020), 2,022 (November 2020), 1,994 (December 2020), 1,972 (January 2021), 1,957 (February 2021), 1,964 (March 2021), 1,970 (April 2021) and 1,971 (May 2021) respondents.
(3) Respondents can select more than one option and so percentages will not add up to 100%.
(4) See the supporting data for all green and natural spaces and 95% confidence intervals of the mean (see Glossary).

The survey asked adults about their reasons for not spending time in green and natural spaces during the previous 14 days (Figure 4). In May, the top reason was ‘Bad / poor weather’ (46%). The second most reported reason was ‘Stayed at home to stop coronavirus spreading / Government restrictions’ (23%). Of note, reporting ‘Stayed at home to stop coronavirus spreading / Government restrictions’ as a barrier to spending time outside has fallen steadily from 55% in January 2021. ‘Too busy at work / with family commitments’ and ‘being too busy at home’ (both 17%) were the next most stated reasons in May.

Figure 4: The top two reasons for not spending free time outdoors in the last 14 days (May 2021) were ‘Bad / poor weather (46%) and ‘Stayed at home to stop coronavirus spreading / Government restrictions’ (23%). ‘Too busy at work / with family commitments’ and ‘being too busy at home’ were the next most stated reasons (17%). Note that only a subset of reasons has been presented - see the supporting data for all reasons.

Figure notes

Source:
Q27a / M2B_Q2: What was the main reason or reasons for not spending free time outdoors in the last 14 days?
(1) Data collected between April 1st 2020 and 31st May 2021 (inclusive).
(2) The samples for this question were 958 (April 2020), 754 (May 2020), 647 (June 2020), 605 (July 2020), 569 (August 2020), 567 (September 2020), 676 (October 2020), 687 (November 2020), 729 (December 2020), 715 (January 2021), 696 (February 2021), 694 (March 2021), 597 (April 2021) and 667 (May 2021) respondents who reported not spending time outdoors in the last 14 days.
(3) Respondents can select more than one option and so percentages will not add up to 100%.
(4) Only a subset of reasons have been presented - see the supporting data for all reasons and 95% confidence intervals of the mean (see Glossary).

5. Other results

The accompanying spreadsheet includes monthly results for a number of areas including:

• Activities undertaken during visits to green and natural spaces;
• Reasons for not spending time outside;
• Worries or concerns related to visiting green and natural spaces;
• The role of green and natural spaces for health and wellbeing;
• Feelings of nature connection;
• Importance of gardens;
• Behaviour changes during the Coronavirus pandemic;
• Children’s time in nature.

6. Methodological note

Information about the survey’s methodology can be found here.

7. Strengths and Limitations

Information about the survey’s strengths and limitations can be found here.

8. Glossary

Green and natural spaces are defined in this survey as green and blue spaces in towns and cities (e.g. parks, canals); the countryside (e.g. farmland, woodland, hills and rivers); the coast (e.g. beaches, cliffs) and activities in the open sea; visits of any duration (including short trips to the park, dog walking etc.). They do not include: gardens; outside spaces visited as part of someone’s employment; spaces outside the UK. Additional questions are asked about private gardens.

95% confidence interval is a range of values around a calculated statistic (e.g. the mean) that you are 95% certain contains the true value of that statistic. For example, where there is a mean value of 49 with a 95% confidence interval of 2, we would be 95% certain that the true mean of the population was in the range of 47-51 (i.e. 49 -2 and 49 + 2). Please note that the People and Nature Survey uses quota sampling and confidence intervals here were calculated as if the data were generated from a random probability sample.

9. Contact

Natural England welcomes feedback on these monthly indicators, questions and suggestions for analysis for future releases. Please contact the team by email: people_and_nature@naturalengland.org.uk

If you would like to receive further information on the survey, including data releases, publications and survey changes, then visit our User Hub and sign-up to the mailing list at the bottom of the page (best viewed in Google Chrome). After signing up, if you do not receive a confirmation email please check your ‘Junk’ or ‘Spam’ folder.

The Senior Responsible Officer for this publication is Dr Katherine Burgess.

10. Pre-release access

Pre-release access was not sought for this release.

11. Related links

Coronavirus - guidance on accessing green spaces safely: Latest government guidance on using green spaces and protecting yourself and others.

Natural England operational update: Coronovirus information on how Natural England is facing the challenges posed by Coronavirus.

People and Nature questionnaire: Includes link to People and Nature Survey questions.

People and Nature Survey information: Further information on the People and Nature Survey for England.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): safer public places - urban centres and green spaces: Guidance for the owners and operators of urban centres and green spaces to help social distancing.

The Countryside Code Statutory guidance on respecting, protecting and enjoying the outdoors.