The activities of cultural and artistic units in 2015

• libraries lent, on average, 11 volumes to (active) users;

• a pupil who attended the school library borrowed, on average, 8 volumes;

• more than 13 million persons visited museums and public collections;

• institutions and companies for arts performing or concerts gave more than 22.5 thousand performances, attended by 5.8 million spectators.

Library activities

The network of libraries in operation in 2015 was made up of more than 10 thousand basic units and 107 branches. The libraries put over 165 million volumes at the public’s disposal. In the urban area 3,643 libraries and 100 branches of these libraries were in operation, with an overall stock of 125.5 million volumes (75.8% of the national book stock available in libraries), and in the rural area, although the number of libraries was considerably higher than in the urban area (6,468 libraries and only 7 branches), the book stock was a lot smaller, below 40 million volumes.

The number of active users exceeded 3.5 million persons in 2015. The distribution of the number of active users by type of library was as follows: 48.6% of the total number of active users attended school libraries, 39.1% attended public (county, municipal, town and communal) libraries, 8.5% of the active users attended the libraries of university institutions, 2.1% attended specialised libraries, and 1.7% attended national libraries and libraries of national importance.

The number of volumes lent to the various users amounted to 40.6 million volumes in 2015, with an average of 11 volumes per user. The greatest number of volumes lent per user was recorded in university libraries, where the average was 20 volumes per user, followed by county libraries, with an average of 18 volumes per user. In school libraries 8 volumes were lent, on average, per user.

The network of public libraries, accessible to the general public from all areas of the country and made up of county, municipal, town and communal libraries, contained, in own collections, 29.7 million titles of printed and electronic books and 46.7 million volumes of printed books and periodicals. In 2015, based on the number of inhabitants1 , there were, on average, 8.4 thousand inhabitants per public library.

There were, on average, 2.4 volumes of public library collections per inhabitant, with 1.4 million active users benefitting from the services of these libraries (7.0% of the country’s population).

To the population that attended public libraries 33.4 volumes were available, on average, per user (36.8 volumes in county libraries, 31.1 volumes in municipal and town libraries, and 31.7 volumes in communal libraries).

The staff of libraries (school libraries are also included) amounted to 7,433 persons at the end of 2015, of which 87.6% were specialised staff.

Museum activities

In 2015 the network of museums and public collections included 431 basic units and was made up of 390 museums, 6 monuments, 21 botanical gardens, zoological gardens, aquaria and 14 nature reserves.

Museum activities were performed in the basic units of the museums, as well as in their 307 branches and sections. The number of cultural and natural goods at the end of 2015 amounted to 15 million goods, with 14.0 million cultural goods and museum objects, and 932 thousand plants and animals of botanical gardens, zoological gardens, aquaria and nature reserves.

The number of museum and public collection visitors recorded in 2015 was 13.1 million persons; slightly more than half a million of them (3.9%) made visits free of charge during the “Night of Museums”. 1,633 basic exhibitions and 3,061 temporary exhibitions were organised in 2015.

The number of staff that worked in the museum network amounted to 6,589 persons, of which 53.2% (3,505 persons) were specialised staff.

The activities of institutions and companies for arts performing or concerts

The network of institutions and companies for arts performing or concerts included 254 units in 2015 (174 basic units and 80 branches and sections). Institutions and companies for arts performing or concerts gave more than 22.5 thousand performances, attended by 5.8 million spectators.

According to the breakdown by type of institutions and companies for arts performing or concerts, in 2015 the greatest number of spectators was recorded in theatres, with more than 2.4 million persons attending theatre performances (41.7%), and in the shows given by artistic ensembles, dance and entertainment bands, attended by 1.8 million spectators (31.6%).

In 2015 the number of persons who attended the shows of institutions and companies for arts performing or concerts was 292 spectators per 1,000 inhabitants. The specialised staff of institutions and companies for arts performing or concerts amounted to 11,701 persons at the end of 2015.

The activities of publishing houses

In 2105, 576 units with editorial activity of magazines and newspapers operated in Romania, involving over 5,200 persons, say data released on Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). 

Out of the 576 units, 254 publishing houses have edited newspapers (dailies and periodicals), 274 publishing houses have issued magazines, while 48 editorial units have published both newspapers and magazines. 

The 302 publishing houses that have edited newspapers have issued in 2015 some 123 titles of dailies and 209 titles of other periodicals. At the same time, some 146 dailies and 101 periodicals were released online. According to the INS, 322 publishing houses have edited magazines in 2015. 

The number of periodicals (magazines) published in 2015 reached 1,471, while 409 titles appeared online. The largest part of the periodicals was addressed to the specialized readers (860), which is 58.5pct, the rest of 611 titles being dedicated to the large public. 

In 2015, the staff working with the publishing houses counted for 5,214 persons of whom 74.8pct, meaning 3,900 persons were specialized staff.

Cinema, radio and TV broadcasting activities

According to the records of the National Council of Cinematography, at the end of 2015 the cinema network2 included 82 normal-band cinema units (81 cinemas and one caravan).

The cinema network had 338 cinema screens and 68.4 thousand seats. More than 487.7 thousand film projections took place, attended by 11.2 million persons. 442 films were distributed in cinemas in 2015, of which 57 national films (42 entirely national films and 15 co-productions) and 385 foreign films.

The national film production for the big screen in 2015 included 43 films, of which 18 fiction films produced by Romania, 12 fiction films that were co-productions, 4 documentary and scientific films and 9 animation films.

Central and territorial public radio stations3 broadcast 154.4 thousand hours (135.6 thousand broadcast hours for internal programmes and 18.8 thousand broadcast hours for external programmes).

Central public TV stations4 (TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR 3, TVR International, TVR Moldavia and TVR HD) broadcast 52.6 thousand hours in 2015. The private network of radio and TV stations5 used terrestrial, satellite and electronic (cable) broadcasting networks. 518 private radio stations used terrestrial broadcasting for 182.8 thousand broadcast days and 181 private TV stations employed terrestrial broadcasting for 28.3 thousand broadcast days in 2015.

Only 3 private radio stations and 362 private TV stations used electronic (cable) communication networks, with their programmes amounting to 706 radio broadcast days and 103.9 thousand TV broadcast days, respectively. Satellite programmes were broadcast by 26 private radio stations and 89 private TV stations. The satellite programmes broadcast by private radio stations amounted to 8.6 thousand broadcast days, and the satellite programmes broadcast by private TV stations amounted to 27.2 thousand broadcast days.

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