Ukrainians cut back on leisure activities during war – survey

During the full-scale war, citizens of Ukraine began to devote less time to leisure activities, instead preferring to relax at home.

The sociological study "Cultural practices of the population of Ukraine in the conditions of war," the presentation of which took place in Ukrinform, evidenced this.

Thus, a telephone survey of Ukrainians, which was conducted from June to July this year, showed that compared to the pre-war period, citizens began to devote less time to:

• active leisure,
• meetings with friends,
• visiting cinemas and excursions.

Instead, the Ukrainians started more:

• watching movies at home
• scrolling on social networks,
• reading books,
• listening to music.

The number of people who read books has increased.

The share of citizens who read news in electronic format has also increased. 63% of respondents read printed books, 29% read electronic books, 5% listen to audiobooks, and 3% use both formats. The study shows that older people tend to get information from paper books and young people – from electronic ones.

About half of the respondents claim they started reading more books by Ukrainian authors in the last year.

In addition, compared to the pre-war period, the number of people visiting museums or exhibitions has significantly decreased.

Only 18% of the respondents visited museums, compared to 39% before the full-scale war. Cinemas were visited by 39% of respondents, and before the war there were 58%.

In the last year, 25% of those surveyed went to the theater, while before the war, it was 38%.

Only 24% of respondents attended concerts of famous singers and musical groups in the last year. Before the start of the war, concert attendance was 42%.

At the same time, compared to the pre-war period, attendance at mass cultural events decreased by more than two times.

Only a third of the respondents attended such events at least once in the past year. Before the war, this number was more than half of the respondents.

For reference:

The sociological study "Cultural practices of the population of Ukraine in the conditions of war" was conducted by the public organization "Democratic Youth Initiatives" with the financial support of the Ukrainian Cultural Fund.

The research was conducted in three stages – telephone surveys, focus group discussions, and expert interviews. The number of respondents is more than a thousand. During the study, an analysis of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the cultural practices of the population of Ukraine during the full-scale war was carried out. A comparative analysis of cultural practices in peacetime and wartime was conducted, as well as a comparison of requests for cultural content in regions affected by the war in different ways.

It should be noted that experts have studied the impact of a full-scale invasion on the reading of Ukrainians. The number of Ukrainians who started reading daily increased.