The latest results from the Taking Part adult and child surveys were published on 28th September 2017. These statistics cover the period April 2016 to March 2017.
Adult Report
In 2016/17, 74% of adults had visited a heritage site and 52% had been to a museum or gallery.
The frequency with which people are visiting heritage sites has increased since 2005/06. The proportion of adults who had visited a heritage site at least once a month has increased from 15.3% in 2005/06 to 18.3% in 2016/17 The proportion of adults who had visited a heritage site at least 3-4 times a year has increased from 41.8% in 2005/06 to 46.9% in 2016/17.
There have been significant increases in heritage engagement since 2005/06 for adults aged 16-24 (from 61.6% to 72.4%), 65-74 (from 69.8% to 77.5%) and 75+ (from 52.2% to 60.8%).
In 2016/17 there was no difference in heritage engagement between the sexes, with both males and females having an engagement rate of 74.2%.
Heritage engagement increased significantly between 2005/06 and 2016/7 for both the White ethnic group and the Black and Minority Ethnic group. Engagement with heritage is significantly higher for the White ethnic group than for the Black and Minority Ethnic group, with a difference in engagement levels of 18.5% in 2016/17, down slightly from 21.3% in 2005/06
In 2016/17, a higher proportion of adults in the upper socio-economic group (82.7%) had visited a heritage site in the last 12 months than adults in the lower socio-economic group (61.7%). This significant difference in engagement levels can be seen throughout the time series. There have been significant increases in heritage engagement since 2005/06 for both groups.
Heritage engagement has increased for adults both with and without a longstanding illness or disability over the period 2005/06 to 2016/17. The increase has been greatest for adults with a long-standing illness or disability (from 63.9% in 2005/06 to 70.0% in 2016/17), resulting in the engagement gap between the two groups decreasing slightly, from 8.4% in 2005/06 to 5.9% in 2016/17.
Of all charitable donations, the proportion of adults that had donated to Heritage was 14.2% and Museums and galleries 16.5%.
Child Report
In 2016/17, 68% of children (aged 5-15) had visited a heritage site and 63% visited a museum.
Children aged 11-15 who had visited a heritage site in the last 12 months were also asked which types of heritage sites they had visited:
49.3% had visited a historic building, garden or landscape open to the public
33.8% had visited a historic monument or site of archaeological interest
46.3% had visited a city or town with historic character
23.9% had visited an important modern building or public space
The proportion of children aged 11-15 who had visited a historic monument or site of archaeological interest in the last 12 months significantly increased between 2013/14 (first year of data collection) and 2016/17, from 26.6% to 33.8%. There were no significant changes for the other types of heritage site. In 2016/17, more 11-15 year olds had visited a heritage site outside school (61.7%) than in school (24.6%).