Visits to museums and galleries

Published

Last updated 4 March 2021 - see all updates

This page has been archived.
It has been replaced by Participation in the arts, culture and heritage.

1. Main facts and figures

  • in 2018 to 2019, 50.2% of people aged 16 and over had visited a museum or gallery at least once in the past year
  • 51.1% of White people had visited a museum or gallery, compared with 33.5% of Black people and 43.7% of Asian people

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data measures the percentage of people aged 16 and over who had visited a museum or gallery in the year before being surveyed, by ethnicity.

The data covers people living in private households in England.

Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.

Not included in the data

The data does not include:

  • people who live in institutional settings (such as hospitals or prisons)
  • people who live in temporary housing (such as hostels or bed and breakfasts)
  • homeless people

The ethnic groups used in the data

Data is shown for 5 aggregated ethnic groups:

  • Asian
  • Black
  • Mixed
  • White
  • Other

This means estimates are shown for these groups as a whole. This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to make any reliable conclusions about any of the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document (PDF opens in a new window or tab) for the data on this page.

The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:

Between April and December 2017, the survey question about museums and galleries was in a different section and worded differently to previous years.

To make sure estimates over time are comparable, figures from that period are not included in the data.

In the data file

See Download the data for confidence intervals for each ethnic group. Find out more about how confidence intervals are used to determine how reliable estimates are.

3. By ethnicity

Percentage of people aged 16 and over who visited a museum or gallery in the past year, by ethnicity
Ethnicity % Number of respondents
All 50.2 8,161
Asian 43.7 487
Black 33.5 226
Mixed 60.3 121
White 51.1 7,239
Other 51.4 46

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)

Summary of Visits to museums and galleries By ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

  • in 2018 to 2019, 50.2% of people aged 16 years and over had visited a museum or gallery in the past year
  • 51.1% of White people had visited a museum or gallery, compared with 33.5% of Black people and 43.7% of Asian people
  • although it appears that people with Mixed ethnicity were the most likely to have visited a museum or gallery, this estimate is less reliable because of the small number of respondents

4. By ethnicity over time

Percentage of people aged 16 and over who visited a museum or gallery in the past year, by ethnicity over time
All Asian Black Mixed White Other
Time All % All Number of respondents Asian % Asian Number of respondents Black % Black Number of respondents Mixed % Mixed Number of respondents White % White Number of respondents Other % Other Number of respondents
2012/13 52.8 9,838 45.7 394 39.9 188 48.4 171 53.7 9,054 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 22
2013/14 53.1 10,355 47.3 404 49.0 203 49.7 142 53.6 9,546 67.7 49
2014/15 52.0 9,817 39.9 367 40.7 239 57.8 99 53.2 9,050 51.6 52
2015/16 52.5 10,171 49.9 434 41.3 242 53.3 119 53.1 9,312 52.3 55
2016/17 52.3 9,352 47.3 423 31.9 242 52.3 170 53.6 8,473 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 27
2017/18 49.7 2,088 37.9 118 28.6 55 48.4 38 51.4 1,849 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 21
2018/19 50.2 8,161 43.7 487 33.5 226 60.3 121 51.1 7,239 51.4 46

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)

Summary of Visits to museums and galleries By ethnicity over time Summary

This data shows that:

  • in each ethnic group, the percentage of people who had visited a museum or gallery remained broadly consistent

5. Data sources

Source

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Publication frequency

Twice a year

Purpose of data source

The Taking Part Survey measures people's involvement in cultural activities in England.

The data is widely used by policy officials, practitioners, academics and charities.

6. Download the data

Adults visiting museums and galleries - Spreadsheet (csv) 9 KB

The file contains: Measure, Time, Ethnicity, Geography, Value, Upper bound, Lower bound, Number of respondents