Context: In the last 8 Gyr of cosmic time the global star formation rate (SFR) has declined by roughly an order of magnitude, and most of this activity has been progressively confined to ever less massive galaxies (“downsizing”). Previous studies show that the main drivers of the decline in the global SFR are the spiral galaxies. However, we still lack a detailed understanding of how the star formation (SF) has changed as a function of position within the discs. Such studies will help to build a more accurate picture of how stellar discs are formed and grow. Aims: The goal of this paper is to quantify the changes in the SF distribution within the disc galaxies in the last 8 Gyr. As a proxy for the SF radial profile, we use the near-UV surface brightness distributions, suitably allowing for extinction. Methods: We compare the effective radii (R_eff) and concentration of the flux distribution in the rest-frame near-UV (NUV-GALEX band) for a sample of 270 galaxies in the range 0