More and more Germans are attending cultural events
A study by the German Institute for Economic Research examined the demand for cultural offerings in Germany between 1995 and 2013. One striking finding is that people in cities are no more culturally aware than those in rural areas.
According to the study, only around half of all adults attended high-culture events in 1995; by 2013, this figure had risen to 58%. Demand for popular cultural offerings such as jazz and pop concerts or music and film festivals developed in a similar way.
According to the current economic accounts, private households in Germany spent an average of EUR 144 each on cultural events in 2011, i.e. a total of EUR 5.7 billion - around a quarter more than in 2003.
In 2009 - the most recent year for which corresponding data is available - state cultural expenditure totaled 9.1 billion euros. Although this was 1.6 billion euros or 22 percent more than in 1995, the general price level increased by 23 percent in the same period. All in all, this means that although state spending on culture is stagnating in real terms, more and more people are taking advantage of the corresponding offers.
According to the DIW study, women are more likely to attend high-culture events than men. The older a person is (up to the age of 75) and the higher their level of education, the more likely they are to visit operas, theaters and museums. Unemployed people are less likely to attend cultural events than those in employment, and people living in rural areas are less likely to do so than the urban population. However, if one takes into account the fact that fewer cultural events take place in rural regions, tax revenues are lower and average incomes are lower, the demand for culture no longer differs from that in cities.
The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) is the largest and longest-running multidisciplinary long-term study in Germany. The SOEP at DIW Berlin is funded by the federal and state governments as part of the research infrastructure in Germany under the umbrella of the Leibniz Association. Every year since 1984, the survey institute TNS Infratest Sozialforschung has interviewed several thousand people for the SOEP.
More info: www.diw.de
