Nearly 12,000 cultural enterprises

In 1997, cultural enterprises in Finland totalled 11,745, representing 5.5 per cent of all Finnish business enterprises. Both in respect of personnel and turnover, cultural enterprises are, on average, smaller than other business enterprises. In 1997, they had average personnel of 5 and a turnover of FIM 3.5 million. The information is derived from the compilation publication Cultural Statistics 1999, edited by Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Education as a joint project.

In the period between 1970 and 1995, the number of employees in the cultural field increased by 3 per cent, while the total employed labour force in Finland contracted by 9 per cent. The total number of persons employed in cultural occupations in 1997 was 90,000, representing 4.7 per cent of the total employed labour force. In art professions, among others, the proportion of women has been going up.

Fewer libraries

There are approximately 1,200 public library outlets in Finland. The number continued to decline last year, when it contracted by 24 per cent from the previous year.

The growth in the number of loans which has continued throughout the 1990s levelled off in 1997, when the total number of home loans from libraries was 120 million, which is down by two million on 1996.

Cinema visits on the increase towards the end of the 1990s

Cinema visits have been on the increase in the latter part of the 1990s. Last year, Finns visited the cinema 1.2 times, on average. The number of film premiers last year was 152, of which eight were domestic films. The most popular domestic films in the period between 1995 and June 1999 were Rukajärven tie (Ambush), (1999), Poika ja ilves (Tommy and the Wildcat), (1998) and Häjyt (Tough Ones), (1999) which all broke the 300,000 viewer limit in the early part of 1999.

The publication Cultural Statistics 1999 compiled by Statistics Finland contains information on, among other things, the financing of culture, cultural institutions and events, as well as different fields of art. The covered art fields include, cinematic art, literary art, visual and photographic art, handicrafts and industrial art, building art, theatre, dance and music. Statistical data have been gathered from several different sources, such as art and cultural institutions and organisations, central agencies and the Ministry of Education. The publication is presented throughout in English and Finnish.

Source: Cultural Statistics 1999 - OSF, Culture and communications 1999:2. Statistics Finland