The Direct Economic Impact of Culture in 2013 [CC-2014-5]

In 2013, the direct economic impact of culture, i.e. the total value-added of all areas of culture, amounted to some 44 billion euros. This does not take into account any indirect economic knock-on effects or those generated by culture, such as tourism for example.

Thus calculated, culture accounts for 2.3% of the economy as a whole, down slightly on 2012. This relative drop in 2013 was impacted by slower business activity in the more competitive sectors of architecture, advertising and audiovisual, as well as in the areas of press and book publishing. On the other hand, rising prices within the non-commercial sectors (e.g. live entertainment, cultural heritage) have helped boost their share of the cultural market.

Of those sectors most affected by the 2013 downturn, the audiovisual and advertising agency sector saw renewed growth in their turnover at the start of 2014, in contrast to the architecture and photographic sectors. Moreover, further increases in production costs for magazine and book publishing businesses have also been seen.