Over 14 mln visitors for Romanian museums and public collections in 2016

There were over 14 million visitors for the Romanian museums and public collections in 2016, while libraries issues to every active users averaged at 11 volumes, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

At the same time, entertainment institutions and companies held over 22,000 shows, for 5.7 million viewers.

The libraries’ network was formed of around 10,000 administrative units and 103 divisions in 2016. Libraries had available for public more than 164 million volumes. In the urban area, there were 3,581 libraries and 97 divisions, with 125.3 million volumes, while in the rural areas, although the number of libraries was higher than in urban areas, there were available under 40 million volumes.

„The public libraries network, available to the public from all areas of Romania, formed of libraries of the counties, of the municipalities and cities, owned 29.4 million book titles in physical and electronic format and 46.4 million volumes and journals in physical format. On average each library had 8,600 users in 2016,” says the INS.

On the other hand, the official statistics shows that in Romania the museums network and public collections comprised over 400 units in 2016. The number of cultural and natural goods exceeded 15 million at the end of 2016, out of which 14.6 million cultural goods and museums items and 983,000 plants and animals from botanic gardens, zoos, aquariums and natural reservations.

Moreover, the number of museums and public collections visitors stood at 14.2 million at the end of 2016, out of which more than half visited them within the “Museums night” for free.

According to INS, the network of entertainment institutions and companies comprised 227 units, out of which 167 core units and 67 divisions. The entertainment institutions and companies hosted 22,400 shows for 5.7 million viewers.