In the 21st century free time is an increasingly precious resource. At the same time, leisure has never been more vital for ensuring individual and social health, wellbeing and quality of life. Around the world, governments and industry have responsibilities and opportunities to ensure provision of facilities for rest and play. To do this they require information on trends in free time and leisure in the community.This book is an expanded and updated edition of a previous work entitled World Leisure Participation: Free Time in the Global Village, by the same editors (CABI, 1996). It brings together the results of the most recent national leisure participation surveys from 15 countries, including three countries not previously covered. The book also includes increased coverage of time-budget surveys and new themes such as public policy dimensions. It also examines the methodological problems and challenges of conducting national surveys in the field, and their future prospects.