WHAT IS THE MOST POPULAR
ACTIVITY IN THE UK?
The answer may surprise you…

ATTENDING FOOTBALL MATCHES?

ATTENDING FOOTBALL MATCHES?
In 2013-14, there were 13.9 million visits to Premier
League games. That’s a lot – especially when you
add in the other three leagues and the conference,
plus the Scottish Premier and Division 1, when it rises
to nearly 35 million.
But it’s not the most popular thing we do.

Going to A&E?

Going to A&E?
We do injure ourselves quite a lot in the
UK – in 2013-14 we went to the A&E
Departments of our hospitals 18.5
million times.
That’s still not number 1 though.

GOING TO THE THEATRE?

GOING TO THE THEATRE?
In 2013 we visited the theatre a
whopping 22 million times.
But that’s still 250 million visits
less than our winner.

WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE
VISITING THE UK ITSELF?

WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE
VISITING THE UK ITSELF?
There were 32.8 million visits to
the UK from overseas in 2013.
Not bad at all!

GOING TO CHURCH?

GOING TO CHURCH?
The Church of England got 52
million visits in 2013.
Close but no cigar.

GOING TO THE CINEMA?

GOING TO THE CINEMA?
We LOVE to visit the cinema in the UK,
and did so 165.5 million times in 2013.
Do we finally have a winner?

GOING TO THE CINEMA?
We LOVE to visit the cinema in the UK,
and did so 165.5 million times in 2013.
Do we finally have a winner?
This is NEARLY the most popular
activity we have – in fact we visited the
cinema only 116.5 million fewer times
than we…

VISIT THE LIBRARY!
We visited Public
Libraries in the UK an
eye-wateringly huge
282 million times in
2013-14.
282,000,000 times!

VISIT THE LIBRARY!
That’s more
than 772,000
visits per day.

VISITING THE LIBRARY
That’s more than twice as many
visits to public libraries in a week
(5.4 million) than a theme park like
Alton Towers gets in a year

VISITING THE LIBRARY
That’s a whole football stadium’s
worth of people (32,191) visiting
public libraries every single HOUR
of the year

So next time someone says libraries
are no longer relevant, consider
those statistics for a minute.

So next time someone says libraries
are no longer relevant, consider
those statistics for a minute.
(AND DURING THAT MINUTE, 536 PEOPLE
WILL VISIT A PUBLIC LIBRARY IN THE UK.)

THE DATA
230 million library visits in England (282 million in UK):
http://www.cipfa.org/about-cipfa/press-office/archived-
press-releases/2014-press-releases/cipfa-library-survey
Cinemas: 165.5 million admissions:
http://www.cinemauk.org.uk/facts-and-
figures/admissions/uk-cinema-admissions-2013-by-region/
Church of England: 52 million visits:
https://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/facts-
stats/research-statistics/parish-attendance-affiliation.aspx
The UK itself: 32.8 million visits from overseas in 2013:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ott/travel-trends/2013/rpt-
travel-trends--2013.html
Theatre: 22 million attendees in 2013:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/11001177/Almost
-twice-as-many-people-visit-the-theatre-than-attend-Premier-
League-games.html
Hospital A&E Departments: 18.5 million visits
http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB16728
Premier League Football: 13.9 million total attendance
http://www.espnfc.com/barclays-premier-
league/23/statistics/performance?season=2013

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