According to the data of the Central Bureau of Statistics, personal expenditure on “Recreation and Culture” in 2014 represented 6% of total household expenditure. This shows an increase after a few years of decline – in 2011 it represented 5.3%, in 2010 it represented 5.6%, and it shows somewhat a return to the level of expenditure in 2009 when it amounted to 5.99%. No new data is available.
Participation trends stabilised in the mid-1990s, but participation is still considerably lower than it was in the 1980s. The reasons can be attributed to: a lower standard of living, changed habits in cultural consumption (greater consumption through media, in particular the Internet, within 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 for specific cultural fields (in thousands), 1983-2015
| Year | Professional theatres | Cinemas | Museums and museum collection | Professional children’s theatres* | Professional orchestras, ensembles and choirs* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 1 101 | 21 324 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1994 | 643 | 4 562 | 580 | N/A | N/A |
| 1997 | 705 | 3 233 | 1 129 | N/A | N/A |
| 2000 | 658 | 2 743 | 1 073 | N/A | N/A |
| 2002 | 879 | 2 766 | 1 074 | 426 | 279 |
| 2003 | 1 024 | 2 343 | 1 268 | 429 | 286 |
| 2004 | 1 043 | 2 976 | N/A | 436 | 374 |
| 2005 | 952 | 2 174 | N/A | 374 | 409 |
| 2006 | 941 | 2 669 | 1 674 | 370 | 378 |
| 2007 | 959 | 2 483 | N/A | 419 | 443 |
| 2008 | 1 067 | 3 283 | N/A | 404 | 318 |
| 2009 | 1 033 | 3 524 | 2 191 | 379 | 323 |
| 2010 | 1 184 | 3 355 | N/A | 387 | 320 |
| 2011 | 1 261 | 3 558 | N/A | 399 | 290 |
| 2012 | 1 211 | 4 064 | 2 284 | 399 | 294 |
| 2013 | 1 161 | 4 156 | N/A | 569 | 255 |
| 2014 | 1 374 | 4 079 | N/A | 386 | 298 |
| 2015 | 1 245 | 4 347 | N/A | 477 | 245 |
Source:
Republic of Croatia – Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical
Yearbook 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and from First Releases on
‘Cinematography’, ‘Artistic production and live performances’ and
‘Museums, galleries and collections’, for the years 2013, 2014 and
2015.
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 all yearbooks.
* The data provided concerns seasons not years, thus data for 2002 reflects the season 2001/2002.
Over the years there is a continuous increase in the number of professional theatres; according to data provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics (Statistical Yearbook 2009 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013), the number of professional theatres rose from 15 in 1983 to 23 in 2009, 53 in 2011, 60 in 2012, while in the season 2014/2015 it rose to 98. In the same period, the number of cinema screens dropped dramatically from 314 to 118 in 2010, while the number rose again to 156 in 2011 and in 2012 to 162. In 2015 the number of cinema screens rose to 164. On the other hand, while the number of cinemas, as well as the number of seats was in decline in the period 2003-2011, the number of screenings showed an increase – from 40 429 to 129 145 screenings, and this increase continued in the following years. The positive trend is visible in the last three years when the number of cinemas, seats, screenings and attendance showed an increase, as is visible from Figure 1.
Figure 1: Number of cinemas and attendance in thousands in Croatia, 2008-2014
The number of professional children’s theatres and amateur theatres increased from 14 in the 2008/2009 to 18 in season 2009/2010 and remained the same in 2010/2011, while in the season 2011/2012 it dropped to 17. The next two seasons show again an increase in the number of professional children’s theatres. The high increase is also seen for professional orchestras, ensembles and choirs – after stagnation in the previous decade – 24 in the seasons 2008/2009, 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 respectively, while in the season 2013/2014, this number rose to 52 professional orchestras, ensembles and choirs.
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 and in 2012 to 181. 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 and 2 284 673 in 2012. The Statistical Yearbook for 2015 does not offer new data on museums.
As regards the archives sector, the Statistical Yearbook 2015 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 2011 there were 18 archives with 14 418 archival holdings and 8 379 users and 472 employed, while in 2014 there were 19 with 15 222 archival holdings, 12 090 users and 498 employed.
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