Box office takings around the world are rising

UK box offices had their best year since 1971, with nearly 176 million visits to the cinema recorded - almost three for each person in the country.

Americans saw more than six films each, according to statistics from research body Screen Digest.

Expensive tickets in Iceland mean people there spent the most on cinema trips - forking out $41 (�24) each.

It costs an average of $7.62 to see a film in Iceland, the third most expensive in the world, below Japan ($9.78) and Switzerland ($8.95).

The average ticket in the UK cost $6.45 (�4.29) in 2002, compared with $5.81 in the US.

Film fans in Russia have had to stomach a 138% rise over the past two years, rising to $1.72 in 2002.

But the cheapest cinema tickets were in Romania (39 cents) and India, where each ticket cost 21 cents.

Two thirds of all cinema screens in the UK are in multiplexes, compared with nearly 80% in the US - and less than half in France and Germany.