In this month's Barómetro ao Milômetro, we will focus on the existence of cultural offerings, which may involve, on the one hand, cultural facilities, such as concert halls, bookstores, cinemas, museums, galleries, exhibition spaces, cultural centers, private spaces dedicated to culture and creativity, and on the other, cultural activities, such as concerts, theater shows, street arts, exhibitions, public readings, performances, among others.

This is also a dimension that we intend to explore in greater depth in future analyses, namely through the Culture Barometer 2023, but also through the collection of effective information, in a desired mapping of cultural spaces and initiatives across the country.

In the 2021 survey, we asked a question about satisfaction with the cultural offerings and spaces in the area where the interviewees lived. Analyzing the difference between those who responded that they were satisfied and those who stated that they were dissatisfied, we concluded that there are two regions that stand out for the available offerings, two others present timid positive data and, finally, two regions that present more negative than positive responses, with the very significant case of the Central Coast.

However, despite the extreme differences between the perception of the availability of cultural offerings between regions, this does not automatically translate into an appetite for cultural practices, as can be seen in the graph below, in which the North Coast drops to third place, Greater Porto rises from fourth to first place and the North Interior asserts itself as the region with the least appetite for culture.

In order to try to understand the different assessments that each region makes of cultural appetite and satisfaction, we compared these vectors with the average level of education in each region, knowing the determining importance of this characteristic for cultural consumption.

This analysis allows us to conclude that there is enormous volatility in the way people relate to culture in each region and the criticism they make of the cultural offering.

Apart from Greater Lisbon, there seems to be a logic in which regions with higher levels of education are more demanding in terms of cultural offerings (Greater Porto and Central Coast), while regions with lower levels of education have higher levels of cultural satisfaction (North Coast and North Interior).

These are the region-specific profiles:

Greater Lisbon is the area with the highest level of education, with a huge cultural appetite and significant satisfaction with the cultural offerings, possibly revealing that it is the place in Portugal with the highest cultural availability.

Greater Porto is a region with an average level of education in the upper hip, it is the one with the greatest cultural appetite, but it evaluates satisfaction with the offer in a practically neutral way, with only around 50% of people saying they are satisfied. In other data throughout the study, it is possible to point out that the people of Porto identify a desire for an increase in cultural facilities.

The Central Coast has a relevant educational level, but those interviewed report little cultural interest and are clearly the region most dissatisfied with the offer.

The Litoral Norte region has a ladder-like behavior in the previous table, being one of the two national areas with the lowest levels of education, moving on to an interesting cultural appetite and presenting itself as the region with the greatest satisfaction in the cultural offer. Interestingly, analyzing the percentages of people who responded in each of the criteria, it can be concluded that the values ​​are very equivalent (between 62% and 65%).

The Northern Interior displays a similar cultural aptitude, both in terms of position and in terms of values, with education.

Satisfaction with the cultural offering is much higher in relation to its position between regions, but presents similar response percentages to education and appetite (between 54% and 56%).

The area defined as South and Islands presents some stability, being in similar positions with regard to education, cultural appetite and satisfaction with the cultural offer.

In the data collection we carried out for the 2023 Culture Barometer, we delved deeper into this and other issues, which will allow us to publish, very soon, more concrete and improved analyses.

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.