Let’s get a hobby: Bucharest Among the Least Creative Cities, Study Reveals

Mihai-Alexandru Cristea 18/01/2021 | 16:22

With lockdown measures still in place across Europe, we have all been turning to other activities to keep ourselves busy. This includes getting creative with hobbies such as painting, pottery, knitting and sewing. Interested in discovering which creative hobbies are the most popular within Europe, experts at Homedit.com used Google Ads’ keyword planner to discover which European city is the most creative.

 

Unfortunately, Bucharest ranks third from the bottom, with only 5,930 average monthly searches for all creative hobbies. While it’s true that most outdoor hobbies have been cancelled by the pandemic, there are still many other activities to enjoy on your own, from the comfort of your home, or even in groups, thanks to several online platforms. For example, the study shows that London is the most creative city in Europe, with a staggering average of 87,070 searches a month for creative hobbies. The most searched for hobby in both London and Bucharest is painting. If this made you think and decided to take up a new creative hobby, here are some suggestions:

  • Painting (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 57,590): Europe’s, and Bucharest’s, favorite pastime. There are currently several online painting workshops available in Bucharest hosted by MOON Art Studio, Curs PicturaArt House Bucharest, and many more.
  • Origami (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 50,300): Surprisingly, Bucharest’s second most searched hobby, the Japanese art of paper folding is also big in other cities such as Brussels, Vienna, Prague, Rome, Warsaw, or Paris.
  • Photography (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 39,629): Only the fourth searched hobby in Bucharest, photography ranks first in cities such as Berlin, Budapest, and Athens (I bet the Acropolis has something to do with this…).
  • Dancing (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 39,390): Fourth in Europe, but third in Bucharest, dancing has been probably one of the most affected hobbies by the pandemic, with indoor dance clubs currently under lock and key. According to the study, the people of Amsterdam and Minsk rate dancing above all other creative hobbies.
  • Singing (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 26,430): With only 50 searches per month, singing doesn’t seem to in high demand in Bucharest. On the other hand, Moscow and Lisbon just can’t stop singing.
  • Knitting (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 23,240): Probably more popular with older generations, knitting still generates 140 searches per month in Bucharest. The only city were knitting tops the ranks is Bern.
  • Gardening (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 22,930): Just like knitting, gardening pops up 140 times each month in Bucharest’s searches. While it’s not the top hobby in any of the 20 cities studied, Londoners and Muscovites appear to be the biggest green thumbs.
  • Baking (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 19,170): Only 30 monthly searches in Bucharest for baking. At the other end, Swedes seem to can’t get enough of it, Stockholm being the only city where baking ranks 1st.
  • Sewing (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 14,540): Another rarely searched for hobby in Bucharest with 50 hits, sewing is big in Madrid, where it ranks second only to painting.
  • Writing (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 13,200): 210 monthly searches in Bucharest… not great, not terrible, as Comrade Dyatlov would say. Wonder how many of these searches were mine… Anyway, Europe’s most eager writers are Londoners, Berliners, and Romans.
  • Pottery (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 12,910): I guess pottery only qualified as a hobby after the 1990 American romantic fantasy thriller film Ghost, in which Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore share that famous scene, but apparently some Europeans are still enthusiastic about this millennia-old activity, with London, Paris, and Moscow being the top 3 cities in pottery-related searches.
  • Woodwork (Total monthly average searches by hobby in Europe – 12,430): Another activity which dates since the dawn of time, woodworking as a hobby still ranks high in cities such as Madrid, Budapest, or Paris. But what about Bucharest, you might ask. Not so much, just 50 searches.

 

More data from the Homedit.com survey:

The Most Creative Cities in Europe

London is the most creative city in Europe, with a staggering average of 87,070 searches a month for creative hobbies. The most searched for hobby is painting, with an average of 22,000 monthly searches – the highest search amount for any individual hobby.

In second place is Moscow, with an average of 58,190 monthly creative hobby searches. Unlike London, the most searched for hobby, with 12,200 average searches per month is singing. Although painting and origami are not far behind with 8,100 searches respectively.

Spain’s capital city Madrid places third with a monthly average of 33,150 searches for all creative hobbies. Madrid’s most searched for hobby is also painting with a staggering 8,100 searches last month alone!

 

The Least Creative Cities in Europe

Bucharest (Romania) is third from the bottom with 5,930 average monthly searches for all creative hobbies, a whopping 81,140 less than the top European contender, London. Although like London, the most searched for hobby is painting.

Brussels ranks 19th, with an average of just 3,340 monthly searches. The top searched hobby in Brussels, which ranks second overall (50,300 searches across all cities), is origami with 960 searches.

In last place is Serbia’s capital Belgrade with a mere 149 monthly searches for all creative hobbies. It’s no surprise as the top searched for item sewing (50 monthly average searches) ranks at number nine overall.

 

Top Searched for Hobbies

Beating all other creative hobbies is painting! It seems that picking up a paint brush is the clear favourite with 57,590 searches made throughout Europe last month – it was the top searched hobby in four different cities (London, Madrid, Amsterdam and Bucharest).

The art of paper folding origami landed in second. This is no surprise as last month 50,300 searches were made across all 20 cities and it is the most searched for hobby in six different cities.

In third place is photography, with 39,629, average monthly searches being made. The hobby is the most searched for in three different cities, Athens, Budapest and Berlin.

Methodology

  1. The top 20 most populated European countries and their capital cities were picked for this research. The highest populated countries were found from worldometers.info
  2. The monthly average search volumes for each European city were sourced using ads.google.com
  3. Homedit.com used a context translator to translate the 14 key hobby words into each city’s most common language (knitting, sewing, baking, pottery, painting, flowering arranging, photography, gardening, musical instrument, woodwork, writing, dancing, origami and singing)
  4. All data was collected on 12/01/2021 and is correct as of then
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