Irish are Europe's keenest cinemagoers
The Irish are Europe's keenest cinemagoers, according to figures from the latest publication from Eurostat. The EU statistical agency reports that the Irish go to the cinema an average of 4.2 times a year, compared with the EU average of 1.9 times.After Ireland, other eager European cinemagoers include the French (3.0 times), the Spanish (2.8 times) and the Luxembourgers (2.7 times). Those that went to the cinema the least were the Romanians (0.1 times), Bulgarians (0.3 times) and Slovakians (0.6 times).
These figures compare to the US, where, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, the average was 7.6 times in the year to mid-July 2006.
Cinema, according to the Eurostat publication, is the most popular cultural pursuit in Ireland, with two out of three (66%) Irish people saying they went to the cinema at least once last year. This compares with only one in three Irish people attending the theatre, 40% attending a gallery/museum or only 15% attending the ballet/opera at least once last year.
The Irish figure of 66% is well ahead of the EU average of 51% of citizens saying they attended the cinema at least once last year and is just behind Sweden (71%) and Denmark (69%). In the US, MPAA data shows 64% of people went at least twice a year.