2.5 million museum visits. Did you contribute as well?
Estonian people visited museums nearly 2.5 million times last year. A total of 157 museums were open for visitors in 2023. There were 95 expositions, 4 science centres, and 924 exhibitions.
Erik Lest, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that the average number of museum visits per person last year was 1.79, the highest in Saare county (4.47) and Lääne county (2.98), and the lowest in Valga county (0.49) and Rapla county (0.30). “Science centres and expositions were also popular, attracting 448,000 and 374,000 visits respectively,” he noted.
The analyst pointed out that museums offer learning opportunities as well as entertainment. "In 2023, more than 300,000 people participated in educational programmes for children and young people, and nearly 79,000 in programmes for adults. Close to 120,000 children and young people took part in educational programmes offered by science centres and 38,000 people participated in adult programmes," the analyst stated.
Museums in Estonia have also created interactive exhibitions and virtual tours that allow visitors to experience history and art in new ways. Lest acknowledged that this is particularly important for the younger generation growing up in the digital world, as a modern environment makes learning engaging. “Young people seem to appreciate this approach, as last year children under the age of 9 visited museums and science centres more than 200,000 times,” he added.
On 18 May, Estonia also celebrates the pan-European Museum Night. Once a year, on a Saturday in May, the museums are open longer than usual and admission is free for everyone. The motto of this year's event is “Freedom in the Night!”.
The main representative of public interest for the statistical activity “Museum” is the Ministry of Culture, commissioned by whom Statistics Estonia analyses the data. The classification of museums is based on the UNESCO classification. Museum statistics are needed to obtain an overview of Estonian museums and for the government to be able to make decisions on the preservation and development of culture.
More detailed data have been published in the statistical database.
See also the museums section on our website.
When using Statistics Estonia’s data and graphs, please indicate the source.
For further information:
Heidi Kukk
Media Relations Manager
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 625 9181
press [at] stat.ee (press[at]stat[dot]ee)