The graph below shows how elderly people in Europe spent their free time between 1980 and 2010.

The chart depicts how European elderly spent their leisure

time

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(in per cent) between 1980 and 2010.

Overall

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, it is obvious that older people tended to have active behaviour (sports and hiking)

while

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others chose to experience a sedentary lifestyle (reading, theatre, and surfing the internet) over the period of

time

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. In regards to the active lifestyle, hiking experienced a dramatic rise compared to playing sports. It stood at 20% in the 1980s,

then

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happened to be one of the most appealing activities done by seniors in 2010; in which, it hit a peak at 80%.

On the other hand

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, playing sports generally did not show any sharp change during the given

time

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. Moving on to the other behaviour, surfing the internet was proved as the most popular sedentary activity among the European elderly.

Although

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it wasn't really well known during the 1980s (0%), it

finally

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witnessed a gradual increase during the 1990s period, before rising significantly to 50% in the 2010s.

Additionally

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, reading saw a sharp rise during the duration, which started at 30% to 60%

at the end

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of the period. Meanwhile, spending

time

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in theatre experienced a downward trend over

time

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, of which 50% in the 1980s

then

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fell to 45% in 2010.