Cultural Habits Survey

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Research, Technology and Culture
Anders Yde Bentsen
+45 40 33 68 81

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Cultural Habits Survey 2024

The purpose of the Cultural Habits Survey is to document the cultural habits of the residents of Denmark. Culture is broadly defined, as the survey covers habits within the topics of culture, media and recreational activities, e.g. concerts, performing arts, cinema, literature, exercise, digital games and hobbies. The survey has been carried out regularly since 1964. Statistics Denmark has carried out the survey from 2018-2023 and in 2024, while previous surveys have been carried out by the Ministry of Culture. The survey has been carried out with a new questionnaire since the first quarter of 2024, and is therefore not directly comparable with previous versions.

Statistical presentation

The Cultural Habits Survey is an interview based quarterly survey among a random sample of Danish residents 16 years or older, which documents the consumption of cultural and recreational activities. The consumption of these activities may occur both in Denmark and abroad. The cultural consumption is grouped in various statistics by i.a. age, gender, education and degree of urbanisation. The current Cultural Habits Survey is ongoing and was first collected in the first quarter of 2024. The survey is communicated in Danish language press releases and in StatBank Denmark.

Statistical processing

The Cultural Habits Survey is an interview based quarterly survey among a random sample. The survey is carried out by both computer-assisted web interviews (CAWI) and computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI). Approximately 4,800 responses are collected each quarter. The questionnaire is divided into a general part answered by all participants and four sub-parts, each answered by roughly a fourth of the respondents surveyed via CAWI. Using demographic information from Statistics Denmark's register of the Danish population, the respondents are weighted to compensate for non-response. Data is inspected for errors. A yearly dataset is compiled by the combination of the data for each quarter of the year.

Relevance

The Cultural Habits Survey is carried out and developed in close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and is the ninth in the series of the cultural habits of Danish residents carried out since 1964. The current survey accommodates a series of user needs, among which are more frequent statistics, the possibility for investigating geographic variation and the surveying of a broader definition of culture. The user needs have been identified through a thorough assessment of the Cultural Habits Survey 2018-2023. The assessment comprised the Ministry of Culture, researchers and users from public institutions.

Accuracy and reliability

The Cultural Habits Survey is based on approximately 4,800 responses per quarter, which is a robust amount of data, contributing to lessening the sampling error. The error of the estimates are further reduced by the use of a mixed mode of data collection and multiple attempts at contacting each respondent. The error is however significantly greater for those questions which are part of the four sub-parts as these are each based on an amount of data roughly one fourth the size of the total amount.

Timeliness and punctuality

The statistics are published two months after the end of the reference period. The statistics are published without delay compared to scheduled publishing times.

The statistic on membership for youth and outdoor activities organisations is published yearly in June, with data for the preceding year.

Comparability

The survey has been carried out since 1964, but is in its current form only comparable with earlier versions to a limited degree. This is partly due to societal and technological changes and partly due to changes in the needs of users which has resulted in major revisions of the questionnaire in 2018 and 2024. The questionnaire is developed according to UN guidelines and is therefore partly comparable to statistics from other countries, among these the Nordic countries and EU countries.

Accessibility and clarity

The statistics are published in NYT from Statistics Denmark (available only in Danish. In the StatBank, the figures are published under Adults' cultural habits. For more information, see the topic page Cultural and recreational activities.