This year, in what was the fourth edition of the Culture Barometer, we decided to start studying the importance of mental and physical well-being, and how this can affect cultural practices. In this Barometer to the Millimeter, we show how it is quite clear that those who are more motivated and happier consider that they have more space for culture in their lives than those who are not.

This initial availability, of appetite for cultural practice, is extraordinarily revealing of the consequence of individuals' well-being for effective cultural consumption. Thus, excluding film viewing, which is practically omnipresent for all segments of analysis, there is a substantial difference in cultural practices, depending on motivation and happiness.

Those who felt more motivated attended, on average, 41% more theatre performances than those who felt less motivated. Significant increases were also seen in reading a book (17% more), attending a concert (28% more) or visiting a museum or heritage site (40% more).

Those who felt unmotivated and unhappy also ate out less often than those who felt motivated and happy, and went to bars or clubs less often. At the same time, they also visited cultural venues less frequently: around 80% of those who never or rarely felt motivated did not go to any of the venues mentioned in the survey in the last year, compared with around 60% of those who were more motivated over the course of the year.

On the other hand, physical fatigue does not seem to have the same consequences for cultural consumption as mental availability. The values ​​across all segments are relatively stable and close to the opinion of the general population. Although there are no major variations in consumption, for those who are tired, lack of time appears as the most critical reason for not consuming more culture.

For example, those who feel tired due to work seem to watch movies as often as those who don’t feel as tired. However, this group also shows a greater desire to watch movies more often than those who don’t feel as tired (75% vs. 84%). When asked why they don’t watch more movies, 70% of people who feel tired every week or always say they don’t watch movies because they don’t have time, while only 42% of people who feel less tired choose this option.

The same applies to theatre performances, where although both groups are balanced in terms of the desire to attend more often, the segments of people who felt more tired, both due to home and work, are those for whom lack of time appears to be more relevant. The frequency with which respondents read also does not seem to be influenced by work fatigue. However, when asked about the reasons why they do not read more, 55% of individuals who say they often feel tired due to work respond that they do not do so due to lack of time, compared to only 40% of individuals who say they do not feel tired. The same applies to fatigue due to household chores. Lack of time is cited by almost twice as many people who cite fatigue as a reason for not attending more concerts, compared to people who did not feel so tired over the last year.

It is clear to us that these are sensitive issues and, as this is the first attempt to address this topic, we will seek to improve and incorporate any learnings into future questionnaires and explorations.

Every two weeks we dive into the Culture Barometer to bring you new analyses on the relationship between the Portuguese population and culture.

The Culture Barometer is an annual study that analyzes the opinions of the Portuguese people on culture. Conducted for the first time in 2019, this year's questionnaire focused mainly on the consequences of the pandemic on society and culture. Learn more about the 2022 report here and request your full report here.

Summary Technical Sheet

The study universe consists of individuals aged 15 or over, residing in mainland Portugal and the islands. The sample, with 1.200 validated interviews, was stratified by region, sex and age group, in mainland Portugal, and by islands, and distributed in each stratum according to the distribution of the target population in each stratum. The interviews were conducted from March 22 to April 19, 2022, through an online questionnaire using the CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interview) method. The results are presented with a 95% confidence level. The margin of error for the mean on a scale of 1 to 10 is 0,14 points and the margin of error for the proportion is 3,13 percentage points.