UPA Asia’s ‘State of Play in Asia’ Finds Pickleball Growth Continuing in World’s Largest Continent

Now it can be told—again. Pickleball’s rise is no one-trick pony as it is continuing unceasingly. In fact, the sport is growing by leaps and bounds right here in Asia!

This continuing growth is the highlight of a study released this week by United Pickleball Association Asia and YouGov Singapore, which revealed a pickleball boom across 12 countries in Asia—China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Vietnam. Said study, titled “State of Play in Asia,” surveyed 1,000 respondents per Asian country, and based on extrapolated data, it concluded that there is both a massive awareness of pickleball and growing participation in it.

Put simply, more and more people are getting to know pickleball, and just as many are playing it. That such is true in 12 of the most populous country in Asia speaks volumes about just how meteoric the rise of pickleball has been and how it is looking at an even bigger and brighter future.

“We have witnessed the rapid rise of pickleball in the United States in recent years and have every reason to believe that the explosion of growth in Asia could be just as huge, if not bigger,” said Kimberly Koh, Managing Director of UPA Asia, about the results of the “State of Play in Asia” study.

UPA Asia, incidentally, recently launched the UPA Trailblazers Programme that aims to discover and train the best Asian pickleball talent. The programme recruited 12 picklers for its inaugural cast, and it will likely find more and more talented players in the region in the coming years given the sport’s upward trajectory in arguably the world’s most populous continent.

“With over 4.8 billion people in Asia, where there is a strong history in racket sports, pickleball is well-positioned to reach new players and fans. We are at a key inflection point in the history of our sport. UPA Asia, through our PPA Tour Asia starting in July, and Major League Pickleball Asia in 2026, will showcase the sport at the highest level across Asia, providing platforms for stars to display their skills and engage new audiences.”

– Kimberley Koh

Indeed, the numbers in favour of pickleball, as uncovered by the “State of Play in Asia” study, are staggering. Consider:

• Around 1.9 billion people in the surveyed countries have heard of pickleball.
• Approximately 812 million people have played pickleball at least once, with some 282 million playing it at least once a month.
• The growth of pickleball is fairly recent, with a 60% year-on-year increase across the surveyed countries. In fact, 62% of respondents said they only learned about pickleball in the last two years.
• Southeast Asia is emerging as a pickleball hub led by Vietnam and Malaysia. Pickleball awareness in Vietnam rose by152%, while it was 88% in Malaysia.
• India is fast emerging as well, with more than 31% of its population having tried pickleball. It also has the highest number of frequent players—or those who play at least once a month—at over 178 million. China comes next with over 60 million monthly players, followed by Vietnam at over 16 million.

The same study also uncovered what’s driving this increasing pickleball participation. Among the cited reasons are:

• 35% say they play for fun.
• 33% say they play for the physical health benefits.
• 31% say they play because they were initially drawn by how easy the sport is to learn.
• 29% say they began playing because their family or friends were involved.
• 27% say they view playing pickleball as an opportunity to meet new people.
• 28% say they transitioned from other racquet sports because they found pickleball more accessible and often more enjoyable.

Pickleball mania, though, isn’t just happening in Asia. The pickleball wave is actually sweeping the globe, with the sport, for instance, also seeing fantastic growth in the United Kingdom, where there’s been a reported a 65% increase in pickleball membership in Pickleball England over the past year. As a result, Pickleball England now has an estimated 35,000 players across the country, and that number is growing by the day.

“Anyone who picks up a paddle and has a play knows the joy, that inner child just comes out playing this game. I can ‘t describe it any better than that, inner joy is what this game promotes,” said Karen Mitchell, Chair and Co-Founder of Pickleball England as she offered a simple explanation of pickleball’s growing worldwide appeal.

Indeed, it looks like there’s no stopping pickleball, and it only bodes well for the sport’s future. In fact, the more it booms in Asia and the rest of the world, the bigger the chance of it becoming a Olympic sport—something hardcore picklers would surely love. But, at the moment, that’s a goal for another day. The near- and mid-term goal is to keep growing the sport to have more and more people falling in love with it.