Global Skateboarding Statistics, Facts & Popularity 2024

Skateboarders have been subjected to many misconceptions over the years, with stereotypes of antisocial behavior as opposed to the creativity, skill and individuality often held by those who participate in it. But did you know that skateboarding is now officially an Olympic sport?

Here, we share all of the latest skateboarding statistics, facts and figures from around the world to provide you with a thorough overview of the sport in 2024.

Skateboarding Statistics: A Speedy Summary

Need the quick version? Grab your skateboards. We’ve got you covered. Here’s a run through of our top skateboarding stats and facts:

• As of January 2024, 1 in 8 UK adults (12%) say they skateboard.
• Men are more than three times as likely to skateboard than women (18.5% vs 5.5%)
• 1 in 15 UK adults decided to take up skateboarding during adulthood.
• Skateboarding is now officially an Olympic sport, having made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 in 2021.
• The most popular skateboarding trick of 2024 is the ‘Ollie’ according to Google search data.
• ‘Girl’ is officially the most popular skateboard brand of 2024.
• The skateboarding social media account with the highest Instagram following is Tony Hawk’s, with a total of 7.6 million followers!

When Did Skateboarding Originate?

Skateboarding as a sport and the boards themselves have come a long way since their earliest emergence back in the 1940s. But who first invented skateboarding? And what did the earliest skateboards look like?

• Skateboards were invented back in the late 1940s when Californian surfers wanted a way to take the feeling of riding waves to the streets.
• The earliest skateboards were created by these ‘sidewalk surfers’ and were made from wooden crates or boards with roller skate wheels attached to the bottom, or sometimes surf boards with metal wheels on their undersides.

Skateboarding Popularity in 2024

Fast forward to 2024, and skateboarding is still a widely enjoyed hobby all over the world. So just how many people in 2024 skateboard? And how many of us have never given it a go?

To find out skateboarding popularity, in January 2024 we used the market research company Censuswide to survey a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults, asking them the following questions:

Which of the following statements most applies to you?

• I skateboard now and I skateboarded as a child
• I skateboard now but did not as a child
• I skateboarded as a child but I no longer skateboard
• I have never skateboarded

The results found that:

• 12% of UK adults skateboard! That’s 1 in every 8 people.
• Whilst 64.5% of the adult population have never stepped foot on a skateboard.
• And 23.5% skateboarded as children, but no longer do now they’re adults.

Skateboarding and Gender: Do Boys or Girls Skateboard The Most?

Skateboarding is a great sport for almost anyone to learn whilst growing up. Even - as some videos on Youtube have proved - dogs! But amongst skateboardings’ human community, who’s more likely to participate in the sport during their youth? Girls or boys?

Our survey found:

• In childhood, boys are more than twice as likely to skateboard than girls (68.3% vs 31.7%)
• In adulthood we see a very similar picture, as overall, men are more than three times as likely to skateboard than women (18.5% vs 5.5%)
• In fact, a staggering 78.5% of women in the UK say they’ve never skateboarded vs just 50% of men.

Skating Through Life: What Proportion of Skateboarders Continue Skating in Adulthood?

So clearly many of us enjoy skateboarding during childhood. But just how loyal are we to the sport? To find out, we also asked participants who skated as children whether or not they continued into adulthood.

The results showed that:

• Only 18% of people who skateboarded as children continued to do so as adults.
• Whilst the rest (82%) left it behind as just a childhood hobby.

Our survey also found that:

• 1 in 15 UK adults took up skateboarding during adulthood! Nearly 7% of respondents said they didn’t skateboard as children but they do now.

Which Age Groups are More Likely to Skateboard as Adults?

You’re never too old to learn to skateboard. Although - your knees and elbows may disagree after the first few bails! So which age groups are most likely to take up the sport in adulthood? To find out, we took a look at the ages of each of our survey’s respondents, which revealed:

• Those aged 25-34 are the most likely to skate in adulthood! In fact, more than a quarter of those who skate as adults are in this age category.
• This is closely followed by those aged 18-24, as almost 23% of adult skateboarders are in this age group.
• Whilst those aged 55 and over are the least likely to take one for a ride.

Global Popularity of Skateboarding Overtime

From Californian ‘sidewalk surfers’ to skateboarding dogs and becoming an Olympic sport - just how much has the popularity of skateboarding changed overtime? To find out, we used the Keyword Finder tool to analyze google searches made by those looking for skateparks. We combined searches for the following terms:

• Skatepark
• Skateparks near me
• Skateboard park near me
• Skateboard park

Our analysis found:

• Global online searches for skateparks have increased year-on-year between 2015 and 2022.
• One significant peak in searches occurred in the year 2020, just as skateboarding officially became an Olympic sport!
• The same can be said for terms related to skateboarding tricks and boards, as you can see from the graph below.

The search terms we analyzed and combined search volumes for were:

• Skateboards
• Buy skateboards
• Buy skateboard

As well as:

Skateboarding Popularity in The Middle East

According to online searches, skateboarding also seems to be rolling its way through the Middle East. Our research found:

• Online searches for skateparks in the Middle East have been on the rise since 2016, increasing each year until 2022 when they remained fairly similar to 2020.
• The biggest increase in searches occurred between 2020 and 2021, when the sport first made its debut in the Olympic games.
• Interest in buying boards and learning tricks is also steadily rising, with the highest rates of searches for these terms occurring during 2020 and 2021, coinciding with the global pandemic.

Most Popular Skateboarding Tricks

Skateboarding is clearly much-loved by many across the globe. But just how many of us take it seriously enough to learn new tricks and skills whilst out boarding? To find out, we again used the Keyword Finder tool to analyze the number of searches made for some of the most popular skateboarding tricks.

As you can see from the table below:

• The most popular skateboarding trick of 2024 is the ollie, where the rider and board jump through the air without the use of the rider's hands.
• Dropping in is the next most popular trick, where riders go from a flat platform into a steep transition.
• Also popular are fs180s (or frontside 180s), boardslides and rock to fakies.

Most Popular Skateboard Brands Worldwide

So now we know that tens of thousands of people head to Google each month to look for tips and tricks to improve their skateboarding techniques and learn new skills. But as many skateboarders will tell you, a good quality, lightweight and durable deck can sometimes be the thing that takes your performance from good to great. So which brands are the most popular in 2024?

To find out, we extended our online search analysis to include some of the world’s most famous skateboarding brands, and input them into the search analysis tool along with the word ‘skateboards’. This allowed us to discover that:

• Girl is officially the most popular skateboarding brand of 2024, with the term ‘Girl skateboards’ receiving upwards of 100,000 searches every single month!
• Palace features in second spot, being searched 69,000 times a month worldwide.
• Another popular skateboard brand is Santa Cruz, tallying up almost 50,000 searches every single month.

Top 10 Skateboarding Accounts by Social Media Following

One of the most common ways fans of skateboarding, or any other sport, like to keep up with the latest trends, techniques and developments is by checking out relevant accounts on social media. Whether that’s friends they know who also love to skate, their favorite skate parks, or even social media influencers who share their passion for the sport.

But which skateboarding accounts have the highest social media following in 2024?

Our analysis found that the skateboarding accounts with the most followers on Instagram are:

• Tony Hawk - The skateboarding account with the highest following in 2024 is officially Tony Hawk’s, with a staggering 7.6 million followers to date!
• Rob Dyrdek is also over the 7 million mark, at 7.1 million followers as of January 2024.
• Nyjah Huston takes third spot in the ranks, with a following of 5.2 million.
• And female skater Leticia Bufoni takes 4th spot, with a total following of 4.3 million.

Skateboarding Magazine Popularity 2024

We also conducted an analysis of global online search volumes for some of the world’s most popular skateboarding magazines to determine which is the most sought-after by readers. Our research found that:

• Thrasher is officially the most popular skateboarding magazine of 2024, averaging at an impressive 46,600 searches per month.
• This is followed by Big Brother magazine (7,000 monthly searches) and Pop Magazine (4,000).
• Also in the top 10 are Color magazine, Skateboarder magazine and Skate magazine.

We hope these skateboarding facts, figures and statistics for 2024 have given you some food for thought on the topic of boarding and maybe even tempted you to give it a whirl yourself! For more statistics on popular sports and games, check out our blog here!

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