Croatia/ 8.2 Cultural consumption and participation  

8.2.1 Trends and figures

According to the data of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the personal expenditure for "Recreation and Culture" in 2011 represented 5.3% of the total household expenditure. This is a constant decline in personal expenditure on culture in the last three years as in 2010 it represented 5.6% and in 2009 - 5.99%. This can be attributed to the impact of the recession and the structural problems of the Croatian economy.

Participation trends stabilised in the mid-1990s, but participation is still considerably lower than it was in the 1980s. The reasons are: a lower standard of living, changed habits in cultural consumption (greater consumption within the home), and the disappearance of the outlets through which tickets were sold en masse, an infrastructure typical of the 1980s. Major theatres, concert halls or festivals offer on-line booking services. The web portal (http://www.ulaznice.hr) offers on-line ticket sales and reservations for fifteen cultural institutions (mostly in Zagreb). Companies specialised in on-line ticket sales have emerged, e.g. Eventim franchise for Croatia.

Table 5:     Attendance data in specific cultural fields (in thousands), 1983-2009

Source:     Republic of Croatia – Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Yearbook 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Note:         Table is compiled from four different Tables (Culture and Arts, Museums and Museum Collections, Professional Children's Theatres, and Professional Orchestras, Ensembles and Choirs.) given in the section "Culture, Arts and Sport" in both yearbooks.
*                 The data provided concerns seasons not years, thus data for 2002 reflects the season 2001/2002.

According to data provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics (Statistical Yearbook 2009 2010, and 2011), the number of professional theatres rose from 15 in 1983 to 23 in 2009, while in 2010 the number rose to 44 theatres. In the same period, the number of cinemas dropped dramatically from 314 to 118. On the other hand, while the number of cinemas, as well as the number of seats was in decline in the period 2003-2010, the number of screenings showed an increase – from 40 429 to 92 527 screenings. The largest increase was in the period of 2007-2008 when the number of screenings rose 67.7%; the number of visitors per inhabitant in this period rose from 0.56 to 0.74. However, in 2010 the number of visitors showed a slight decline (Figure 1) together with the number of visits per inhabitant – from 0.79 to 0.76.

Figure 1:         Number of cinemas and attendance in thousands in Croatia, 2005-2010

Source:     Republic of Croatia - Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Yearbook 2011, (CBS, 2011: 498).

The number of professional children's theatres and amateur theatres increased from 14 in the 2008/2009 to 18 in season 2009/2010. The number of professional orchestras, ensembles and choirs dropped from 29 in the season 2002/2003, 26 in the 2007/2008 season, to 24 in the season 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 respectively.

In 1994, there were 146 museums and museum collections, and in 2006 this figure rose to 164. In 2009 this number further increased to 175. The number of visitors increased steadily in this period – from 579 919 in 1994, to 1 268 128 in 2003 and 2 191 189 in year 2009. The increasing number of museum visitors in 2003 and 2006 in comparison to the 1990s has also been noted. The Statistical Yearbook for 2011 does not offer new data on museums.

As regards the archives sector, the Statistical Yearbook 2009 shows that in 1993 there were 16 archives with 9 288 holdings and collections and 9 681 users; although in 2005 the number of archives dropped to 14, the archival holdings as well as the number of users increased to 12 660 and 10 991 respectively. In 2008 there were 15 archives with 13 291 archival holdings and 9 329 users. The Statistical Yearbook for 2011 does not offer new data on archives.

In the period 2006-2010, there was a slow but steady increase in radio and television subscribers, as it can be seen from Figure 2.

Figure 2:    Radio and television subscribers in Croatia, 2006-2010

Source:     Statistical Yearbook 2011, Central Bureau of Statistics, pg.496.

There are no special surveys monitoring the participation of national minority groups or immigrant groups in cultural life.

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