The 2009 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics (FCS) is a collaborative effort of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and the UNESCO Culture Sector. The revised version of UNESCO’s cultural statistics methodology is based on the 1986 Framework for Cultural Statistics. This version includes new concepts that have emerged since 1986 in the field of culture, including those related to new technologies – which have so drastically transformed culture and the ways it is accessed – intangible heritage, and evolving cultural practices and policies.
Access to cultural statistics helps the national planning system to make scientific estimates on the cultural needs of the society and identify and determine the facilities available as well as the measures required to meet cultural needs. In this regard, the definition, measurement and assessment of cultural indicators are among the important issues in the evaluation of the performance and planning in the cultural domain.
Accordingly, the Institute for Statistics and the Cultural Sector of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have developed a framework for cultural statistics, the final version of which was published in 2009. This framework, as an instruction and functional manual for statistical offices and cultural institutions of the countries, makes the production and dissemination of important statistics in the cultural domain in eight sub-categories possible in order to provide comparable cultural statistics of countries more and more. In this series, the material and immaterial aspects of culture are taken into account and it consists of two parts: main domain of culture and affiliation and support domain.
The necessity for using this framework as an international standard series for production and dissemination of cultural statistics in the country has led the Statistical Research and Training Centre to put the translation of this Framework in its work program. The present publication is the translated version of the Framework