Guide

Hiking: 79% of the French federation's members are 60 or older

The image of the homebound senior doesn't hold up against the French Hiking Federation's (FFRandonnée) own numbers. Of its 245,000 members, 50% are between 60 and 69, and another 29% are 70 or older. Combined, close to 79% of the federation's members are 60 or older.

Hiking isn't an occasional pastime for this generation: it's a structured practice, carried by a federation recognized as a public-interest organization, backed by 20,000 volunteers and nearly 3,500 local associations across the country.

This figure says something broader than just hiking: a generation that structures its own community and sporting life, rather than merely experiencing it. On this front at least, it's seniors who carry the movement, not younger generations.

Source: Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre, fact sheet updated June 2026.