Global inequalities in arts, music or educational organization membership: an epidemiological analysis of 73,825 adults from 51 countries.

Background. Arts and cultural engagement is a ubiquitous human behaviour and considered to be evolutionarily and developmentally adaptive, with wide-ranging health benefits. Although levels of engagement are known to be far from equal within countries, comprehensive data comparing the rates and profiles of engagement on a global scale are lacking.Methods. This study analysed cross-sectional data from Wave 7 of the World Values Survey (2017-2023), with 73,825 respondents from 51 countries. Using multilevel logistic regression, we tested whether a set of individual-level demographic and socio-economic factors and country-level socio-demographic and political factors were associated with arts, music, or educational organization membership rates. We additionally explored whether those individual-level factors differed across regions using single-level regression.Findings. Prevalence of arts organization membership varies substantially across countries, from fewer than 1 in 30 people living in Egypt to more than 1 in 2 people living in Kenya. Education, income and age are consistent identified individual-level factors contributing to membership disparities, alongside other region-specific individual-level factors such as gender and employment status. Membership is also positively influenced by country-level income inequality and net migration rate, and negatively influenced by life expectancy.Interpretation. We found a universal social gradient in membership, which suggests differential opportunities and potential barriers to access arts organizations across population subgroups. Given that participation in arts organizations has been shown to improve health outcomes, reducing disparities in access to and participation in the arts may have the potential to help reduce health inequalities, and should therefore be a priority in global health.