4114.0 - Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues and Events, Australia, 2002  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 13/12/1999   
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MEDIA RELEASE

December 13, 1999
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
142/99
Two thirds of Australians visiting cinemas

A total of 10 million Australians aged 15 years and over went to the cinema at least once in the year ending April 1999. The number of cinemagoers has increased by 14% since 1995.

Survey results released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) also show that 12.6 million people (85% of the Australian population aged 15 years and over) went to at least one cultural venue or activity in the year ending April 1999.

Libraries were the second most popular cultural venue with 5.7 million people visiting them at least once. Nearly 5.4 million people went to botanic gardens, 5.0 million to animal and marine parks, 3.8 million to popular music performances and 3.2 million to art galleries.

Museums experienced a significant decline in attendance, falling from 3.9 million in 1995 to 3.0 million in 1999. In part, this was due to the temporary closure of some large museums. The attendance rate, which takes into account Australia's increasing population, fell from 28% to 20% for museums.

Females had higher attendance rates than males for all of the 12 venues/activities surveyed. Opera and musicals had the highest proportion of female attendees at 64%. Popular music had the lowest proportion with 51% female attendance.

People aged 65 years and over visited cultural venues at significantly lower rates than people in other age groups. The only exception was classical music which attracted a slightly higher proportion of people aged 65 years and over.

Details can be found in Attendance at Cultural Venues, Australia (cat. no. 4114.0) available in all ABS bookshops. A summary of the main findings is also available from this site. The ABS encourages media organisations with online news services to link to the main findings. Please phone us if you need assistance to do this.

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