Estonia/ 8.2 Cultural consumption and participation  

8.2.1 Trends and figures

The introduction of political democracy, freedom of speech, market economy, and political independence during the revolutionary period from 1988 to 1991, profoundly changed the role of cultural life in society. From having been fulfilling political and compensatory functions, cultural life lost some of the appeal it had gained due to the specific circumstances of the Soviet regime. The change was reflected by statistics on the population's participation in cultural life. Most indicators show a sharp decline around 1992-1993, and after that, a stabilisation or slow revival. It should be noted however, that despite the overall decline, the average level of cultural participation in Estonia is still relatively high in international comparison. This is confirmed by the results of a survey commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and conducted in 2003 and 2006, and by similar results from a survey conducted by the Statistical Office of Estonia in 2004. According to the survey respondents, high prices of cultural services and the geographical distance along with problems in organising transportation are the main obstacles for more active participation in cultural life. The findings also suggested that a steep decline in participation has taken place during the last ten years; this conclusion is nevertheless, not supported by trends in participation statistics (see Table 6 below). The problem may be, however, that some social groups have become increasingly marginalised both with respect to their participation in cultural activities, and to their consumption of culture products. According to results from other surveys, this particularly concerns elderly people outside the capital and provincial centres. There also seems to be great variance in consumption levels between different income groups. Large communities of non-Estonian people (mainly Russian speakers) have become more alienated from cultural life than ethnic Estonians, with the exception of some fields of culture (see also  chapter 4.2.1).

A fragmentation of the population into active and non-active participants in cultural life seems to have taken place. Although this growing inequality of opportunities for participation in cultural life has been recognised by cultural policy decision-makers, they lack the instruments to counteract this trend, which is more a direct result of the overall development of society than a matter of cultural policy.

Table 6:     Participation in cultural life: selected indicators, selected years 1990-2008

Sources:    Figures provided by the Ministry of Culture and the Statistical Office of Estonia; Peeter Vihalemm(ed.) (2004): Meediasüsteem ja meediakasutus Eestis 1965-2004. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus; marketing research and consulting company TNS Emor, http://www.emor.ee/.
*                 In 2004-5, population from the age of 4 is included.