An Official
Statistics publication
Published by:
Analytics Division
Among other policy areas, the Department for Communities (DfC) is the lead department for arts and creativity, heritage, museums, libraries, public records and sports. This bulletin provides headline analysis on these areas.
Engagement in culture, art, heritage and sport includes:
This report presents the findings from the 2023/24 Continuous Household Survey (CHS) in relation to engagement with culture, arts, heritage and sport in Northern Ireland. These findings are used to inform the development, monitoring and evaluation of policy. More information relating to the CHS, methodology, definitions and the interpretation of the figures can be found in the Definitions & technical notes section. Data tables are available in Excel and ODS format. The questions that were asked in the CHS 2023/24 are available here.
Note: Data collection for the 2023/24 CHS was carried out using a mix of telephone and face-to-face interviewing modes, a similar approach to that used in 2022/23. For 2020/21 and 2021/22 data collection was by telephone interviewing due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There was also a reduction in the number of questions between 2020/21-2022/23. As a result, the figures from 2020/21 onwards are not directly comparable to previous years due to the significant changes to the survey in terms of methodology and content. More information is available on the NISRA website.
Lead statistician: Iain Bryson
Engagement with culture, arts, heritage and sport is defined as engaging in the arts, using the public library service, visiting museums or science centres, visiting a place of historic interest, using PRONI services or participating in sport. In 2023/24, nine out of every ten adults (90%) had engaged with culture, arts, heritage and sport within the previous year, an increase on the 2022/23 figure of 88%.
In 2023/24, 86% of adults had engaged in some way with culture, arts and sport within the previous year, an increase on the 2022/23 figure of 84%.
Note: The results from the 2020/21-2023/24 are not directly comparable to previous years due to the significant changes to the survey in terms of methodology and content. While comparisons can be made between 2021/22 - 2023/24, it is important to note that engagement in 2021/22 would have been impacted by closures due to COVID-19.
Figures for visiting a place of historic interest can only be combined with culture, arts and sport from 2021/22 onwards.
In 2019/20, the questions on visits to museums were revised to include a question to estimate the length of time from the last visit to a museum. As a result of the inclusion of this question, figures for visits to museums in 2019/20 are not comparable with previous years. Although this is one element of the overall culture, arts and sport engagement rate, the impact of the change is lessened by the fact that the majority of those who visit museums also engage in some other way with culture, arts and sport.
Engagement in culture and arts activities is defined as engaging with the arts, using the public library service, visiting a museum or science centre or visiting PRONI. In 2023/24, more than four-fifths of adults (83%) had engaged in culture and the arts, an increase on the 2022/23 figure of 80%.
In 2023/24, four out of five adults (80%) had engaged with the arts within the previous year, with three out of every ten (30%) participating in arts activities and just over three-quarters (76%) attending an arts event.
In 2023/24, 23% of the adult population had used the public library service at least once within the previous year, similar to the 2022/23 figure of 22%.
In 2023/24, 39% of adults had visited a museum or science centre within the previous year, an increase on the 2022/23 figure of 32%. Nearly a quarter of adults (24%) had visited a national museum over the same period, an increase on the 2022/23 figure of 20%.
In 2023/24, 5% of adults had used PRONI services within the previous year, the same as the 2022/23 figure. Use of PRONI services includes visiting PRONI, the use of the PRONI website to access the online catalogue or other applications, contacting PRONI by email to request information and engaging with PRONI through social media or viewing a PRONI exhibition at another public building.
In 2023/24, 64% of adults in Northern Ireland had visited a place of historic interest within the previous year, an increase on the 2022/23 figure of 59%.
Just over half of all adults (51%) had participated in sport (excluding walking) at least once within the previous year in 2023/24, an increase on the 2022/23 figure of 48%.
In 2023/24, almost three-quarters of adults (74%) had participated in sport and physical activity (including walking) in the last 4 weeks, similar to the 2022/23 figure of 75%.
Continuous Household Survey
The Continuous Household Survey is a Northern Ireland wide household survey administered by Central Survey Unit, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The sample for this survey consists of a systematic random sample of 8,940 addresses selected from the Land and Property Service’s list of private addresses. The findings reported for 2023/24 are based on 4,927 respondents, aged 16 and over.
Note: Data collection for the 2023/24 CHS was carried out using a mix of telephone and face-to-face interviewing modes, a similar approach to that used in 2022/23. For 2020/21 and 2021/22 data collection was by telephone interviewing due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There was also a reduction in the number of questions between 2020/21-2022/23. As a result, the figures from 2020/21 onwards are not directly comparable to previous years due to the significant changes to the survey in terms of methodology and content. More information is available on the NISRA website.
Weighting the Continuous Household Survey
Analysis of the culture, arts and sport modules of the CHS have been weighted for non-response. A chi square goodness-of-fit test showed that the CHS sample (4,927) was not representative of the population by age and sex when compared with the 2022 Mid Year Estimates for Northern Ireland (NISRA 31 August 2023). As a result, separate weights were produced for age, sex and age and sex combined.
Non-response weighting sometimes increases standard errors, although the impact tends to be fairly small, i.e. the adjustment may be less or greater than 1, but will generally be reasonably close to 1. In the case of the culture, arts and sport modules of the CHS, the values of the adjustment for all three weighting systems are so close to one, it is not necessary to take account of this in the calculation of standard error and confidence intervals.
While weighting for non-response (also called post-stratification) should reduce bias, it must be acknowledged that it will not eliminate bias. The reasons individuals choose to take part in surveys are complex and depend on lots of factors specific to the individual. As a result, the non-response biases in surveys are likely to be complex. Post-stratification works on the assumption that, by aligning the survey to the population along a small number of dimensions such as age, gender and MDM, many of these complex biases will reduce. However, it would be misleading to suggest that they will be eliminated.
Statistical significance in this report
Any statements in this report regarding differences between groups are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. This means that we can be 95% confident that the differences between groups are actual differences and have not just arisen by chance. The base numbers, sizes of percentages (relating to low self-efficacy and loneliness) or variance of scores (relating to wellbeing) have an effect on statistical significance. Therefore on occasion, a difference between two groups may be statistically significant while the same difference in percentage points or mean score between two other groups may not be statistically significant. The reason for this is because the larger the base numbers or the closer the percentages are to 0 or 100 or the smaller the variance in scores, the smaller the standard errors. This leads to increased precision of the estimates which increases the likelihood that the difference between the proportions or mean scores is actually significant and has not just arisen by chance.
Official Statistics
Our statistical practice is 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. Contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards - email:analyticsdivision@communities-ni.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
Other notes
The following should be noted when interpreting figures and tables: