Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

F1: Social indicators: Methodology and development; Relation with users

2920 Luxembourg  LUXEMBOURG

Statistics included in the section Cultural participation comprise data which are derived from already existing EU surveys and data collections that are in majority of cases modules conducted on irregular basis:

• Adult Education Survey (historical data - AES 2007 and 2011);
• Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC ad hoc module on Cultural and social participation, 2015);
• Survey on ICT (Innovation and Communication Techonologies) usage in households and by individuals (ICT) and
• Harmonised European Time Use Survey (HETUS, 2000 and 2010).

Cultural participation was conceptualised by the ESS-net Culture report (2012) using the ICET model of cultural participation, that distinguishes four forms of participation:

• Information — to seek, collect and spread information on culture;
• Communication and community — to interact with others on cultural issues and to participate in cultural networks;
• Enjoyment and expression — to enjoy exhibitions, art performances and other forms of cultural expression, to practise arts for leisure, and to create online content.
• Transaction — to buy art and to buy or reserve tickets for shows.

The ICET model thus sees cultural participation as encompassing people’s activities as consumers of culture (reading books and newspapers, going to the cinema, theatres and concerts, visiting museums and historical sites, etc.), but also as active participants (painting, playing music, dancing or engaging in any activity with an artistic dimension).

In the context of the spreading number of services available via internet, the cultural offer also adapted to comply with digital era what influenced as well the manners of cultural consumption and cultural participation.

Two types of data relate to cultural participation and are currently available at Eurostat:

• on cultural practices like going to cinema, theatres and concerts and visiting cultural sites (from the AES, EU-SILC and TUS), and practising artistic activities (EU-SILC and TUS);
• on use of ICT and internet for cultural purposes (from the survey on ICT use).

Data on cultural participation (reading patterns, attending cultural events and visiting cultural sites) come from a specific module on cultural participation of Adult Education Survey (AES) conducted in 2007 and 2011, and of European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) carried out in 2006 and 2015. The AES data (covering only the age group 25-64) are available by age, sex, educational attainment level and frequency of practices, while SILC data (for population aged 16+) are further broken down by income quintile, household type, degree of urbanisation, and reasons for non-participation in cultural activities.

For further methodological information, please consult the AES Metadata and EU-SILC Metadata.

Data on cultural participation in terms of time spent on doing such cultural activities as reading books or newspapers, watching TV, listening to music, attending cultural events are available from Time Use Survey conducted in 2000 and 2010. This survey is devoted to measure the amount of time people spent on wide range of activities such as paid work, household and family care, personal care, voluntary work, social life, travel and leisure activities etc. 

For further information on methodology of the HETUS survey, please consult the HETUS medatada.

Data on use of ICT (internet) for cultural purposes come from the annual Community survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals and from its specific modules: on the use of mobile connection to internet (2012) and on cloud computing services (2014). The aim of the ICT survey is to provide the relevant statistics on the information society: access to and use of ICTs, purposes of use of internet, ICT security and trust, ICT competences and skills etc. The data are available according to numerous breakdown variables including age, sex, educational attainment level, etc.

For further information on methodology of ICT survey, please consult the ICT metadata.

The educational attainment level for data on cultural participation is determined by the International Standard Classification of Education; ISCED 1997 for AES and TUS, and ISCED 2011 for EU-SILC (from 2014 onwards) and ICT.

Cultural participation.

Statistics on cultural participation currently cover the following items:

From EU-SILC:

• Going to cinema (in the last 12 months) and the reasons why not;
• Going to live performances (in the last 12 months) and the reasons why not;
• Visiting cultural sites (in the last 12 months) and the reasons why not;
• Practising artistic activities (usually).

From AES:

• Reading books (in the last 12 months);
• Reading newspapers (in the last 12 months);
• Going to cinema (in the last 12 months);
• Going to theatres and concerts (in the last 12 months);
• Visiting cultural sites (in the last 12 months).

From ICT:

Regarding the purpose of using internet by individuals, the following online cultural activities have been identified for which the data are available on annual or biennial basis:

• Reading online news sites/newspapers/news magazines;
• Watching internet streamed TV or videos;
• Listening to music (e.g. web radio, music streaming)
• Playing or downloading games;
• Creating websites or blogs;
• Consulting wikis (to obtain knowledge on any subject).

The e-commerce is monitored through ICT annual survey and the information on the purchase of the following culture related items is available:

• Books, magazines and newspapers;
• Films and music;
• Tickets for events (including sport events).

In 2017, some questions were added on downloading/accessing of the following contents directly from apps and website:

• e‑books;
• e-magazines, e-newspapers;
• films/music.

The ad-hoc module on ‘Mobile connection to the internet’ carried out in 2012 enabled to capture the use of mobile devices for such activities on internet as:

• reading or downloading online news / newspapers / news magazines;
• playing or downloading games, images, video or music;
• reading or downloading online books or e-books.

The results of the ICT 2014 survey module on cloud computing  provided  information on the use of cloud services for storing and/or sharing cultural content and in particular for storing and/or sharing of:

• E-books or e-magazines
• Music
• Photos
• Videos including films and TV programmes

Notes: See Annex 1 for detailed list and composition of indicators on ICT for cultural purposes.

For data from EU-SILC, AES, TUS and ICT survey: individuals living in private households.

For data from AES: population aged 25 to 64 living in private households.

For data from EU-SILC: population aged 16 and over living in private households.

For data from ICT: population living in the private households having at least one member in the age group 16 to 74 years.

For data from TUS: all persons living in private households aged 10+ (if this is not possible, all persons aged 15+).

For data from EU SILC:

2015: EU Member States; the United Kingdom; Iceland, Norway, Switzerland; North Macedonia, Serbia.

2006: EU Member States (except Romania and Croatia); the United Kingdom; Iceland and Norway.

For data from AES:

2007: EU Member States (except Denmark, Ireland, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands); Turkey.

2011: EU Member States (except Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, France, Croatia, the Netherlands and Sweden); the United Kingdom; Serbia and Turkey.

For data from TUS:

HETUS 2000 covered 14 European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Finland, the United Kingdom and Norway.

HETUS 2010 covered 18 countries: Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Finland, the United Kingdom Norway, Serbia, Turkey.

For data from ICT:

EU-Member States; the United Kingdom; Iceland and Norway; candidate countries. EU aggregates are available.

For data from EU-SILC: 2006 and 2015

For data from AES: 2007 and 2011.

For data from ICT: since 2003 for annual variables; 2012 - module on mobile connections to the internet, 2014 - module on cloud computing services.

For data from TUS: the data collections are spread over few years around the wave years 2000 and  2010.

Data collections years in HETUS wave 2000:

1998-1999: France

1999-2000: Estonia, Finland

2000-2001: Slovenia, United Kingdom, Norway

2001-2002: Bulgaria, Germany

2002-2003: Spain, Italy

2003: Latvia, Lithuania

2003-2004: Poland

2005-2006: Belgium

Data collections years in HETUS wave 2000:

2008-2009: Italy, Austria

2009-2010: Estonia, Spain, France, Hungary, Finland

2010-2011: Romania, Norway, Serbia

2011-2012: Netherlands, Greece

2012-2013: Belgium, Germany, Poland

2014-2015: Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Turkey

Not applicable.

Please consult the EU-SILC Metadata, AES Metadata, and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Not applicable.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Statistics on cultural participation are not bound by a release calendar.

Not applicable.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

None.

None.

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database

Under specific conditions (see Council Regulation (EEC) No. 577/98 of 9 March 1998), researchers may access specific micro datasets. To avoid disclosure of confidential data, these data are "anonymised", on the basis of a list of anonymisation criteria agreed with the National Statistical Institutes. Please refer to access to microdata.

None.

Eurostat statistics on cultural participation have been designed according to the following document: The European Statistical System Network on Culture – ESSnet-Culture final report (2012). This report is the reference document for the design and development of culture statistics.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Data on cultural participation and practicing of artistic activities allow measuring the people's direct and indirect involvement in cultural activities. At the European level, the several policy initiatives and programs aim at developing the European dimension of culture and at raising awareness about its social and economic benefits.

Therefore, high quality data are important to better underpin the actions taken under the various initiatives targeting the cultural sector empowerment.

Generally users have been satisfied with overall quality of the service delivered by Eurostat, which encompasses data quality and the supporting service provided to them.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Regarding specifically EU-SILC 2015 data: low reliability data for Ireland, Poland and the United Kingdom, due to a high non-response rate.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

BREXIT: New EU-27_2020 aggregate

Due to Brexit, a new aggregate, (EU-27_2020), has been calculated from February 2020 for the entire time series.

The ‘Statistics explained’ articles will be updated with the new EU-27_2020 aggregate progressively in 2020. 

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

AES 2007 and AES 2011 specific module on social and cultural participation (see item 3.1): random sample survey of individuals living in private households.

Data from 2015 EU SILC ad hoc module on social and cultural participation and material deprivation and 2006 EU SILC ad hoc module on social participation (see item 3.1): the part of the survey regarding cultural participation is related to variables applying at individual level where the current household members aged 16 and over are interviewed.

Data on the ICT use are based on sample surveys; detailed information to sample characteristics are included (occasionally updated) in the Methodological Manual.

Data on TUS are collected by national time use surveys, consisting of diaries, individual questionnaires and household questionnaires (see also HETUS 2008 Guidelines (HETUS wave 2010).

AES: 2007 and 2011. In the future, no more AES ad-hoc module will be devoted to cultural participation.

EU-SILC: 2006 and 2015 ad-hoc modules on social and cultural participation. In the future, that specific ad-hoc module will be carried out at regular intervals, every 6 years.

ICT: annual.

TUS: the general recommendation is to collect TUS every 5-10 years. Currently only data for the HETUS 2000 and 2010 rounds are available at European level.

Dependent on the data sources used.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Primary data are checked and validated according to AES, EU-SILC and ICT (please see the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Apart from the validation made on the primary data, the data on cultural participation extracted and then compiled from AES and EU-SILC were as well validated and checked in terms of comparability and consistency between countries and over time prior to being uploaded.

Please consult the AES Metadata, EU-SILC Metadata and the ICT Metadata and TUS Metadata.

Not applicable.