Information

Cultural engagement in Scotland 2023: Scottish Household Survey findings

This report provides evidence on cultural engagement in Scotland in 2023. It draws on data from the Scottish Household Survey to explore attitudes and behaviours for different people and places across Scotland.


Introduction and context

Culture policy context

In the Scottish Government our national outcomes describe the kind of Scotland we want to see. For our culture outcome, our broad vision is that Scotland is a vibrant and creative country where everyone is encouraged to enjoy culture in all its forms.[3]

Four national performance indicators measure progress against the Culture Outcome:

1. Attendance at cultural events or places of culture

2. Participation in a cultural activity

3. Growth in the the arts, culture and creative economy

4. People working in arts and culture and creative industries

The first two national indicators are reported on using the data from the SHS at national and sub-national levels. These figures have been presented in this report and the supplementary excel tables.

The Culture Strategy for Scotland[4] was published in February 2020 following engagement and consultation with artists, cultural organisations and communities across Scotland. There is not a set definition of ‘culture’ in this strategy. This is because culture is described as being something that takes place across the country every day. It is something that can be expressed in a wide variety of ways, and it means different things to different people. The strategy also highlights the positive impact that culture has on society and its potential to contribute to individual, community and national wellbeing and prosperity. The data presented in this report will help the Scottish Government, and our key partners across the public sector and cultural sectors to track the progress of Culture Strategy ambitions.

Data collection

The main way of capturing patterns of cultural engagement in Scotland is through the Scottish Household Survey (SHS). This is an annual survey of the general population in Scotland, carried out since 1999. It aims to collect reliable and up-to-date information on a range of topics, including culture and heritage, through a random sample of people in private residences.

It is a voluntary and interviewer-led survey. In 2023, as is typical, the SHS was carried out as a face-to-face interview, primarily administered in people’s homes. The 2023 methodology and fieldwork outcomes report and Annex A in this report provides more detailed information of the methods used. The 2023 SHS results are published as official statistics (see below) in line with 2022.

Prior to 2023, results from the SHS were published in one key findings report split into chapters by topic area. From 2023 onwards a new approach to reporting is being undertaken with individual topic reports being published. The full set of SHS 2023 data tables was published via the SHS Data Explorer on 2 December 2024.

This report summarises the findings on culture and heritage from the 2023 Scottish Household Survey (SHS) and provides key data on cultural engagement, attendance and participation at a population level alongside additional detail across various protected and socio-economic characteristics. Specifically, there are questions in the survey about people’s cultural attendance and their participation, their satisfaction with services, factors that may limit their attendance and participation and what value culture has for them. This provides valuable statistical data on attitudes and behaviours.

Throughout this report, tables are referenced. These are published in Excel format as supporting documents to the report, and include specific results for groups in the population (e.g. age, sex, deprivation). Some of the differences between groups may be due to random sampling variation i.e. chance. Similarly, some apparent differences between 2022 and 2023 results may occur by chance. We use standard statistical tests of significance to determine the likelihood of differences being due to chance. When this report refers to differences between groups or years, these differences are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level unless explicitly stated otherwise. Some differences between groups in the excel tables that appear large may not be mentioned in this report, because they are not statistically significant.

Please note percentages in this report have been rounded to the nearest whole number. As a result of this calculated differences or changes may be out compared to the difference between the stated percentages.

This report contains visuals using resources from Flaticon.com.

An Official Statistics publication for Scotland

The Scottish Household Survey statistics contained in this report are official statistics. Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

More information about Scottish Government statistics is available on the Scottish Government website.

Structure of the report

This report is structured into five sections:

1. Cultural engagement in Scotland (2023)

2. Attendance at cultural events or places (2023)

3. Participation in cultural activities (2023)

4. Satisfaction with Local Authority cultural services (2023)

5. Impact of culture and heritage (2023)

Contact

Email: socialresearch@gov.scot

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