People have fun: Differentiating factors of entertainment choices

Entertainment is an important part of human life. The study aims at assessing the demand for entertainment (cinema, theater, sports spectacles, museums) and at identifying entertainment priorities of various social groups of Russian adult population and the main types of entertainment consumption. The article is based on the official statistical data and representative data from the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) database for 2022 — Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions of the Population (CSLC) for respondents over 15 years old (N=117,634: 45 % men and 55 % women); factor analysis was used. Two main types of consumption were identified: 1) focused on spectacular events (cinema, sports) and visiting restaurants; 2) focused on highly spiritual, intellectual entertainment (theaters, exhibitions, concerts). Priorities in the choice of entertainment vary depending on social-demographic and economic characteristics: young people prefer cinema, women — theater, men — sports spectacles. Representatives of different types of families attend entertainment events more often than the average Russian, which may mean joint entertainment. Young families without children are the most active consumers of entertainment, since they attend all types of entertainment events more often than the national average: cinema — 64 % (the national average — 36 %), restaurants — 69 % (the national average — 48 %). Rural residents attend entertainment events less often, and their choices are less diverse than those of city residents. Wealthy groups spend more money on entertainment and a larger share of their expenses. In recent years, there has been a general trend of increasing spending on entertainment, but the most deprived groups in this regard are non-working pensioners and the disabled. © I.B. Nazarova, 2025.