On this page

1. Main trends in young people's creativity and cultural participation

2. Main concepts

Main trends in young people's creativity and cultural participation

A key national survey on young people's creativity and cultural participation is the Children and Youth Leisure Survey, published by the Finnish Youth Research Society, the State Youth Council, and the National Sports Council. 

According to the latest Children and Youth Leisure Survey (Aapola-Kari, 2023, in Finnish), the most popular cultural and creative hobbies are music (6%), visual arts (4%), and reading (2%). Creative hobbies remain a common subgroup of hobbies, especially among 7-14-year-old girls. Digital and gaming-related hobbies (8%) are also among the most popular and time-consuming activities. Young people studying for a University of Applied Sciences degree are the most active in taking up new cultural hobbies (24%). Unemployed young people most often quit their art and cultural hobbies (23%). Regional variation can also be observed. Children and young people in the Helsinki and Uusimaa region quit hobbies more often than they start new ones. (p. 41-42). The survey is available in Finnish, with infographics also available in English.  

Main concepts

•    Cultural wellbeing: The Cultural Policy Report (2025, originally published in Finnish in 2024) recognises the concept of ‘Cultural Wellbeing’, underlining that ‘[p]articularly successful examples of the impact of cultural wellbeing include the prevention of social exclusion and mental health problems among young people’. 
•    The Finnish Model for Leisure Activities (see Glossary): The model provides free-of-charge hobbies to children and young people, including cultural hobbies, such as film-making clubs.