Culture statistics - cultural participation

Data extracted in August 2024

Planned update: October 2029

Highlights

In 2022, women participated in cultural activities at higher rates than men – this pattern was also observed in 2015.

In 2022, the participation rate in cultural activities among people with the highest incomes was at least twice that of those with the lowest incomes in 17 EU countries.

In 2022, more than half of people with disabilities in Denmark, Luxembourg, Finland, and the Netherlands participated in cultural activities.

People participating in any type of cultural activity in the last 12 months by sex, 2022

This article, part of the online publication Culture statistics, presents key findings on people’s participation in cultural activities and people’s practice of artistic activities. These findings are from EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC), conducted in EU, EFTA, and candidate countries. In 2022, in addition to annual data, EU-SILC collected 3-yearly data on health and 6-yearly data on quality of life, from which the data presented in the article are extracted.

Participation in cultural activities includes going to the cinema, attending live performances (plays, concerts, operas, ballet and dance performances, etc.) and visiting cultural sites (historical monuments, museums, art galleries or archaeological sites). The practice of artistic activity includes activities such as playing an instrument, composing music, singing, dancing, acting, photography, etc. The overall scope of the data collection covered various aspects of participation and non-participation in cultural activities during the 12 months preceding the interview, among individuals aged 16 and over. Detailed breakdowns are available, including sex, age, educational attainment level, degree of urbanisation, income level, and more. Additionally, in 2022, data on cultural participation among people reporting some level of disability became available.

It is important to note that although the data were collected in 2022, respondents were asked about their cultural participation (such as going to the cinema, attending live concerts, or visiting certain types of art galleries and museums) during the previous 12 months (often covering most of 2021). Consequently, the data may show lower levels of participation compared to 2015 results due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, restrictions in place during the pandemic varied from country to country, and this should be considered when comparing 2022 data among EU Member States.

Full article

Cultural participation – general findings

In 15 EU countries, over half of residents participated in cultural activities

In 2022, in most EU countries (15 out of 26; data for Germany are not available due to high item non-response rate) over half of residents aged 16 or older participated in cultural activities in the previous year. Compared with 2015, reported cultural participation declined across all EU countries except Spain, where cultural participation remained stable at 58.5%. The most noticeable decreases were observed in France, Slovakia, Latvia, and Sweden, where the share of the population participating in cultural activities fell by more than 20 percentage points (pp).

In 2022, the highest levels of cultural participation were primarily recorded in western and Nordic Member States, at 77.7% in Luxembourg and 77.3% in Denmark, followed by the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, and Estonia (all five countries on at least 60%). At the other end of the range, less than a quarter of the adult population in Romania (22.2%) and Bulgaria (19.7%) reported participating at least once within the last 12 months in any of the listed cultural activities (see Table 1).

Table 1: People participating in cultural activities at least once in the previous 12 months, by type of activity 2015 and 2022
(% of population aged 16 and over)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp03)

Cultural participation by type of activity

According to Table 1, among the three types of cultural activities analysed – going to the cinema, attending live performances and visiting cultural sites – the decline reported in 2022 was most pronounced in the attendance of live performances. While in 2015, this activity was the most popular in 13 countries, in 2022 it was the most popular in only 4 countries. In 2015, going to the cinema and visiting cultural sites were the most common activities in 9 and 5 EU countries respectively, while in 2022 these two activities recorded the highest rates of cultural participation of any cultural activity in 11 different EU countries each.

In 2022, Denmark had the highest rate of cinema attendance of any country in the sample (52.4%). And in 2022, Luxembourg recorded the highest rates for attending live performances and visiting cultural sites of any country in the sample (48.5% and 63.3%, respectively). In contrast, Bulgaria had the lowest percentage of participants in cinema attendance of any country in the same and Bulgaria and Romania had the lowest rates for attending live performances and visiting cultural sites.

Cultural participation by sex

In 2022, women participated in cultural activities at higher rates than men in most countries

In most EU countries, the percentage of women participating in the selected cultural activities slightly exceeded the shares reported for men. This pattern was observed in 18 out of 27 countries in 2015 and 17 out of 26 countries in 2022 (see Figure 1). In 2022, Denmark showed the highest participation rate in cultural activities for women of any country in the sample (79.6%), while Luxembourg recorded the highest percentage for men (77.5%), The lowest participation rates of any country in the sample for both sexes were observed in Bulgaria (20.5% women and 18.7% men). The differences between the shares of men and women in cultural participation were generally small, not exceeding 2 pp in 15 countries in 2015 and in 17 countries in 2022. In 2015, differences above 4 pp were noted in three countries: Slovakia (6 pp difference in favour of women), Ireland (5 pp difference in favour of women), and Romania (4 pp difference in favour of men). In 2022, only one country showed a difference greater than 4 pp (Denmark, 5 pp difference in favour of women). In 2022, the countries with the closest gender parity in cultural participation were Malta, Slovenia, Greece, Spain and Luxembourg, with differences not exceeding 0.3 pp.

However, comparing 2022 with 2015, the decrease in the percentage of women participating in cultural activities was larger than that observed for men in 14 countries. The most significant changes in cultural participation by sex occurred among women in Slovakia (a decrease of 25 pp, from 62.3% in 2015 to 36.9% in 2022) and among men in France (a decrease of 23 pp, from 76.6% to 53.6% over the same period). The smallest changes were recorded in Spain (+0.1 pp for men, from 58.5% to 58.6%, and -0.2 pp for women, from 58.5% to 58.3%).

Figure 1: People participating in any type of cultural activity in the last 12 months by sex, 2022 and 2015
(% of population aged 16 and over)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp03)

Cultural participation by age

Despite the decrease in 2022 compared with 2015, the overall structure of cultural participation by age remained unchanged: participation in cultural activities decreases with age. This pattern was consistently observed in 2015 and 2022 across all EU countries. In 2015, the percentage of cultural participants aged 16-29 was at least double that of those aged 65 and over in 15 countries; in 2022, it was at least double in 20 countries.

In 2022, the highest percentages of cultural participation among individuals aged 16-29 were recorded in Luxembourg (89%) and the Netherlands (86.9%). For the remaining age groups, the highest rates were observed in Denmark (81% for those aged 30-54, 74.7% for those aged 55-64, and 65.8% for those aged 65 or over) and in Luxembourg (78% for those aged 30-54, 72.4% for those aged 55-64, and 69.5% for those aged 65 or over). The lowest percentages of cultural participation across all age groups were recorded in Bulgaria and Romania.

Comparing 2022 with 2015, cultural participation decreased by at least 10 pp in the age groups 16-29 and 65 and over in 13 EU countries and by at least 10 pp among those aged 30-54 in 15 countries and among those aged 55-64 in 14 countries. The largest declines in cultural participation were recorded for individuals aged 16-29 and 30-54 in Latvia (25 and 23 pp, respectively), for those aged 55-64 in Sweden (29 pp) and for those aged 65 or over in France and Sweden (25 pp). The smallest decrease in cultural participation for people aged 16 to 29 was observed in Spain (1 pp). In other age groups, slight increases in some countries were also observed between 2015 and 2022. For those aged 30-54, the cultural participation rate increased by 2 pp in Poland; for those aged 55-64, by 2 pp in Spain and 1 pp in Poland; and for those aged 65 or over, by 4 pp in Spain and 3 pp in Luxembourg (see Table 2).

Table 2: People participating in any type of cultural activity in the last 12 months by age, 2015 and 2022
(%)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp03)

Frequency of cultural participation

Countries with high rates of cultural participation also saw more individuals participating more frequently in cultural activities during the year

In 2022, residents of EU Member States mostly participated in cultural activities between one and three times during the year preceding the interview, with the highest rates for participation between one and three times in the year seen in Luxembourg (51.7%) and Finland (46.6%). Participation in cultural activities more than three times a year was noticeably lower across all EU countries. However, countries with a generally high rate of cultural participation also showed higher percentages of individuals participating in cultural activities at least four times a year, particularly in Denmark (33.6%), the Netherlands (30.1%), Luxembourg (25.9%), and Estonia (25.3%). By contrast, Bulgaria (80.3%), Romania (77.8%), and Croatia (67.6%) were the three EU countries where over two thirds of the population did not participate in any cultural activity during the previous 12 months.

A significant change between 2015 and 2022 was related to more frequent cultural participation (’at least four times a year’). In 2015, eight EU countries recorded a higher percentage of their adult population participating in cultural activities at least four times a year compared with the percentage of their population participating one to three times a year. But in 2022, all the EU countries had higher shares for those participating one to three times a year than they did in 2015 (see Table 3). This was due in particular to 15 EU countries that in 2022 experienced a decrease of over 10 pp in more frequent cultural participation (four or more times a year) compared with 2015. Among those participating in cultural activities at least four times a year, the largest declines were noted in Sweden (-25 pp between 2015 and 2022), Finland, France, and Luxembourg (-22 pp each between 2015 and 2022).

Less frequent cultural participation (up to three times during the year) increased in 13 EU Member States between 2015 and 2022. Luxembourg saw the largest increase for this frequency (20 pp over this period), followed by Belgium (7 pp) and Slovenia (6 pp). Conversely, Greece, Slovakia, and Latvia recorded the largest decreases (10 pp each).

It is important to note that COVID-19 restrictions continued to affect cultural participation patterns across several EU Member States in 2022.

Table 3: People participating in any type of cultural activity in the last 12 months by frequency, 2015 and 2022
(% of population aged 16 and over)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp03)

The structure of cultural participation in 2022 – additional socio-economic indicators

Cultural participation by educational attainment

Cultural participation shows higher rates among individuals with higher levels of educational attainment. As Figure 2 clearly shows, in 2022 this pattern was observed across all EU countries.

In 15 countries, at least two thirds of individuals with a tertiary education participated in cultural activities. The highest cultural participation rate among tertiary-educated people was seen in Luxembourg (88.7%), followed by Denmark, Portugal, and the Netherlands. Bulgaria recorded the lowest percentage of individuals with a tertiary education who participated in cultural activities (39.5%). It was the only country where the rate of cultural participation among people with tertiary educational attainment was lower than 50%. In Portugal, Poland, Romania, France, Belgium, Hungary and Ireland, cultural participation among those with a tertiary education was at least 40 pp higher than the level recorded for people with lower secondary education or less.

In 19 EU countries, the participation rate in cultural activities for individuals with a tertiary education was at least twice that of those with only a lower secondary education

Among the population with a lower secondary education or less, there were only two countries in which more than half of individuals participated in cultural activities in 2022: Denmark (63.2%) and Luxembourg (54.3%). In Romania and Bulgaria, countries that were at the other end of the range, this rate was below 10%. In 19 out of 26 countries, cultural participation among individuals with a tertiary education was twice as high as among those with the lowest level of education. Moreover, with the exceptions of Denmark (23 pp), Estonia (28 pp), and Sweden (29 pp), all EU countries recorded differences of at least 30 pp between the cultural participation rates of people with a lower secondary education or less and those with a tertiary education. The greatest differences were recorded in France, Romania, Poland, and Portugal (Portugal had the greatest difference of all at 51 pp).

The most varied cultural participation rates across countries were observed for people with upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education. These rates were below the participation level observed for the whole population in 20 out of 26 EU countries. In four countries (Lithuania, Cyprus, Czechia, and Latvia), participation rates were no more than 10 pp higher for individuals with upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education than for those with the lowest level of education. Conversely, only in Malta was the difference between the percentage of individuals with upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education participating in culture and those with tertiary education participating in culture less than 10 pp (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Persons participating in cultural activities in the last 12 months by level of educational attainment, 2022
(% of population at the specified level of education)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp03)

Cultural participation by degree of urbanisation

Breaking down the population by the degree of urbanisation of area of residence showed a slightly higher percentage of cultural participation in 2022 among people living in cities, compared with residents of towns and suburbs and rural areas. In 2022, this pattern was recorded in 23 EU countries (except Belgium, Ireland, and Malta).

Overall, in most EU countries (17 out of the 26 with available data), the difference between the areas with the highest and lowest cultural participation rates did not exceed 15 pp. The smallest difference was seen in Malta (5 pp), followed by Belgium and the Netherlands (6 pp each). This shows that in these countries, the degree of urbanisation of a person’s area of residence did not play a major role in influencing their cultural participation. By contrast, the largest differences in participation rates between people living in cities and those living in rural areas were found in Poland, Bulgaria (21 pp each), Hungary (20 pp) and Latvia and Greece (19 pp each).

In 16 EU countries, more than half of city residents participated in the analysed cultural activities at least once in the previous year, with the highest rate in Luxembourg (86.1%) and the lowest in Bulgaria (29.7%). Similarly, in 15 EU countries, over half of the residents in towns and suburbs spent some time on cultural activities at least once within 12 months, with Denmark having the highest participation rate (76.4%) and Bulgaria having the lowest (16.9%). And in rural areas, more than half of residents participated in cultural activities in 12 EU countries, with the highest participation rate in Luxembourg (76.6%) and the lowest in Bulgaria (8.0%) (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: People participating in any type of cultural activity in the last 12 months by degree of urbanisation, 2022
(% of the population living in a specified degree of urbanisation)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp04)

Cultural participation by income

Across the EU, the rate of cultural participation was higher among the highest income group (fifth quintile, the top 20%) than the lowest income group (first quintile, the bottom 20%). In 2022, the highest levels of cultural participation among those from the fifth quintile of income were recorded in Luxembourg (90.1% of whom participated in a cultural activity at least once in the previous year), Denmark (87.9%), and the Netherlands (83.1%). In contrast, in Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria, fewer than half of the people with the highest incomes participated in any of the cultural activities. Among people from the first quintile of income, the highest levels of cultural participation were recorded in Denmark (69.4%), Luxembourg (64.7%), Finland (53.3%), and the Netherlands (50.2%). Cultural participation rates below 20% among people with the lowest incomes were recorded in Cyprus, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria.

The 2022 participation rate in cultural activities for the highest income group was at least twice that of the lowest income group in 17 EU Member States. Differences in cultural participation rates between people in the uppermost and lowermost income quintiles were relatively small in the Nordic Member States and Luxembourg, where the ratio was at most 1.5. Conversely, in Bulgaria, people with the highest incomes were 6.5 times more likely to participate in cultural activities than their fellow citizens with the lowest incomes (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: People participating in any type of cultural activity in the last 12 months by income quintile, 2022
(% of population in the lowest and highest income quintile)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp04)

Cultural participation of people with disabilities

Cultural participation is more difficult for people with disabilities. In 2022, data were made available on cultural participation among people reporting at least some level of activity limitation. The results showed a lower rate of cultural participation among people with disabilities compared with the overall population aged 16 and over across all EU countries. In general, in countries with higher overall cultural participation rates, the participation rate among people with disabilities was also higher.

In the EU in 2022, cultural participation rates greater than 50% among people with disabilities were observed in Denmark (68.3%), Luxembourg (67.9%), Finland (55.4%), and the Netherlands (55.4%). At the other end of the scale were Bulgaria (6.1%), Romania (7.1%), Croatia (11.3%), and Cyprus (14.7%) (see Table 4).

Table 4: People with activity limitations participating in cultural activities in the last 12 months, by type of activity and sex, 2022
(% of persons with disabilities aged 16 and over)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp037)

Cultural participation of people with disabilities by type of activity and sex

Of the three activities analysed, visiting cultural sites was most frequently practiced by people with disabilities
As shown in Table 4, among people with disabilities, the most popular cultural activity differs according to the Member State:

in 19 EU Member States it was ‘visiting cultural sites’, with the highest rate observed in Luxembourg (55.5%);
in 5 EU Member States it was ‘attending live performances’;
in 3 EU Member States it was ‘going to the cinema’’ (in Ireland ‘visiting cultural sites’ and ‘going to the cinema’ had the same participation rate).

Additionally, ‘going to the cinema’ was the cultural activity with the lowest participation rate among people with disabilities in 16 EU countries, while ‘attending live performances’ had the lowest participation rate among people with disabilities in 10 countries. The highest percentages of people with disabilities participating in the specified activities were recorded in Denmark and Luxembourg. In Luxembourg, in the year before the survey, 55.5% of all individuals with disabilities visited a cultural site at least once, 39.3% attended live performances, and 36.7% went to the cinema. In Denmark, 46.5% of people with disabilities visited a cultural site at least once, 43.0% went to the cinema at least once, and 37.5% attended live performances at least once.

In 19 EU countries, the percentage of women with disabilities participating in cultural activities was higher than that of men. The opposite trends (where men with disabilities were more likely to participate in cultural activities than women with disabilities) were observed in only a few southern EU countries (Greece, Spain, Italy, Malta, and Slovenia), as well as in Luxembourg and Sweden. In 13 out of 26 EU countries with available data, the difference in cultural participation rates between women and men did not exceed 2 pp, indicating that sex was not a key variable in influencing cultural participation among people with a disability.

Looking at the cultural activity engaged in more detail, ‘visiting cultural sites’ was the cultural activity with the highest participation rate among women with disabilities in 17 countries (and was the cultural activity with the highest participation rate among men with disabilities in 19 countries). ‘Attending live performances’ was the cultural activity with the highest participation rate among women with disabilities in 7 countries (in Croatia ‘visiting cultural sites’ and ‘attending live performances’ had the same participation rate among women with disabilities) and it was the cultural activity with the highest participation rate among men with disabilities in 5 countries. ‘Going to the cinema’ was the cultural activity with the highest participation rate among both men with disabilities and women with disabilities in 2 countries.

Cultural participation – practising artistic activities

Participation in artistic activities

As part of the EU-SILC Quality of Life module on social and cultural participation in 2022, respondents were not only asked about their participation in cultural events. They were also asked about their practice of artistic activities, such as playing a musical instrument, composing music, singing, dancing, acting, photography/filmmaking, drawing, painting, sculpting, engaging in other visual arts/handcrafts, writing poems/short stories/fiction, etc.

In 2022, nearly two thirds of the adult population (aged 16 or older) in Finland (65.8%) reported having practised an artistic activity at least once during the 12 months prior to the data collection, the highest rate among EU countries. More than half of adults in Denmark, Austria, and Slovakia also reported having practised an artistic activity in the previous 12 months. At the other end of the range, less than 20% of residents in France, Luxembourg, Romania, Croatia, and Italy engaged in artistic activities, with the lowest share observed in Italy (17.3%).

It must be stressed that, for artistic practices, in particular those conducted outside a person’s home, the COVID-19 restrictions still in place in 2021 might have had an impact on these figures. By way of reference, in 2015 at EU level, 65.6% of residents said they had not practised any artistic activity in the previous 12 months, ranging from 30% in Finland to 87% in Romania. In 2022, EU citizens saying they had not practised any artistic activity in the previous 12 months ranged from 34.4% in Finland to 82.7% in Italy.

Weekly – or even more frequent – participation in artistic activities was most common among residents of Finland (37.8%), the Netherlands (30.9%), Ireland (28.6%), Austria (26.9%) and Denmark (25.6%). In contrast, weekly – or more frequent – participation in artistic activities engaged fewer than 10% of residents in Portugal, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, and Romania (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: People practising artistic activities in the last 12 months, by frequency, 2022
(% of population aged 16 and over)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp07)

Practising artistic activities by sex and age

Among European adults who practised artistic activities at least once in the 12 months prior to the survey, women generally participated more frequently than men, (except in Italy where men had a 3 pp higher participation rate). The difference reached up to 21 pp in Finland, where over three quarters of women (76.5%) but only half of men (55.1%) pursued artistic activities in the previous 12 months. Significant differences were also noted in Lithuania (17 pp difference in favour of women) and in Denmark and Sweden (16 pp difference in favour of women). In 11 countries, this difference was less than 5 pp, with the most balanced proportions observed in Malta, where 41.6% of women and 41.0% of men practised artistic activities.

Just as is the case with cultural participation, practising artistic activities decreases with age. In 2022, among individuals aged 16 to 29, more than a quarter of women practised artistic activities in 25 EU countries (except Italy) and more than a quarter of men did so in 20 countries (except Poland, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France). However, among those aged 65 or older, more than a quarter of women practised artistic activities in only 13 EU countries, and more than a quarter of men did so in only 11 EU countries. The decline in the percentage of the population practising artistic activities with age was observed for both women and men in almost all EU countries. An inverse trend was only seen in the Netherlands, where the percentage of men practising artistic activities consistently increased with age. In the Netherlands, 39.0% of men aged 16-29 engaged in artistic activities, compared with 48.3% of men aged 65 and over (see Table 5).

Table 5: People practising artistic activities once a year or more in the last 12 months, by age and sex, 2022
(% of defined age group)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_scp07)

Source data for tables and graphs

Cultural participation: tables and figures

Data sources

Statistical concepts and definitions for income and living conditions domain (EU-SILC) are specified in Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, Regulation (EU) 2019/2181 and Regulation (EU) 2019/2242. Countries must follow the annex of Regulation (EU) 2019/2242, where the list of variables is set out, including their methods, flags, units and reference periods. A more detailed description of the list of variables as well as information on their implementation are available in the methodological guidelines.

In 2022, in addition to annual data, the EU-SILC contained a module on health (with data collected every 3 years) and a module on quality of life (with data collected every 6 years). The data were collected in all 27 EU Member States, in 3 of the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), as well as in Montenegro, Serbia and Türkiye. The target population was people aged 16 years or more, while the reference period was 12 months prior to the interview.

The questionnaire of the 2022 module on quality of life covered the following cultural activities:

going to the cinema (in other words, film screenings at motion-picture theatres);
attending live performances by professionals or amateurs (for example theatre, dance, music);
visiting cultural sites (trips to historical monuments, museums, art galleries or archaeological sites);
practising of artistic activities (for example, playing an instrument, composing music, singing, dancing, acting, photography/filmmaking, drawing, painting, sculpting, engaging in other visual arts/handcrafts, writing poems/short stories/fiction, and so on);
reading books (having read books – including eBooks and audiobooks in the 12 months preceding the data collection).

This module also included questions related to the reasons for non-participation in cultural activities, and Eurostat disseminated several indicators that were broken down by sex, age, degree of urbanisation, poverty or social-exclusion situation, disability and more.

In the ‘Income and Living Conditions’ section, you will find more information about the definitions of the main indicators and concepts used (Living conditions glossary).

Context

Culture is one of Europe’s greatest assets: it is a source of values, identity and a sense of belonging. It also contributes to wellbeing, social cohesion and inclusion. The cultural and creative sectors provide a stimulus for economic growth, job creation and international trade.

In accordance with Article 167 of the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU is obliged to ‘contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common heritage to the fore’.

The EU supports these objectives through the Creative Europe programme, as well as a number of policy actions set out in the work plan for culture (2023-2026). The work plan, adopted by EU culture ministers in December 2022, sets out four main priorities for European cooperation in cultural policymaking: (i) artists and cultural professionals: empowering the cultural and creative sectors; (ii) culture for the people: enhancing cultural participation and the role of culture in society; (iii) culture for the planet: unleashing the power of culture; (iv) culture for co-creative partnerships: strengthening the cultural dimension of EU external relations.

The production of reliable, comparable and up-to-date cultural statistics, which provide a basis for sound cultural policymaking, is a cross-sectoral priority for the Commission. Eurostat compiles culture statistics from several different data collections to provide policymakers and other users of statistics with information on the main developments in the field of culture, covering issues such as education, employment, business, international trade, participation patterns and consumption patterns.