Cultural participation in Europe
The European Union has released its latest statistics on cultural participation, highlighting several key trends.
- Since 2015, cultural participation has declined in every EU country except Spain, where it remained stable at 58.5%. The largest drops were seen in France, Slovakia, Latvia, and Sweden, where participation fell by over 20 percentage points.
- In 2022, the highest levels of cultural participation were found mainly in western and Nordic countries, with Luxembourg at 77.7% and Denmark at 77.3%. Other high rates were recorded in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, and Estonia (all over 60%). At the opposite end, less than 25% of adults in Romania (22.2%) and Bulgaria (19.7%) took part in any cultural activities in the previous 12 months.
- Of the three types of activities analysed - cinema, live performances, and visits to cultural sites - the steepest decline was in attendance at live performances. In 2015, this was the most popular activity in 13 countries, but by 2022, it was the most popular in only four. Luxembourg had the highest rates of live performance attendance and cultural site visits, while Bulgaria and Romania had the lowest.
- Despite the overall decrease in participation, the age-related trend remained the same: cultural participation decreases with age. In 2015, participation among 16-29 year-olds was at least double that of those aged 65 and over in 15 countries. By 2022, this gap had widened to 20 countries.
- Cultural participation was higher among those with more education. In 15 countries, at least two-thirds of individuals with tertiary education engaged in cultural activities. Luxembourg led this group with an 88.7% participation rate, followed by Denmark, Portugal, and the Netherlands. In contrast, Bulgaria had the lowest participation rate among tertiary-educated individuals, at 39.5%.
- People with disabilities faced greater challenges in accessing cultural activities. In 2022, data showed lower participation rates for individuals with disabilities compared to the overall population aged 16 and over in all EU countries. However, in countries with higher overall participation rates, participation among people with disabilities was also relatively higher.
For more details, visit the Eurostat website.
