Brussels, 05/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has gathered for the first time the main culture statistics comparable at EU level in a single publication, 'Cultural Statistics'. The publication has chapters on cultural employment, enterprises and foreign trade and statistics on cultural expenditure and involvement in cultural life in 2005 in the EU27 (some figures cover 2004 and 2006).
Characteristics of the culture economy: 1) Cultural employment in the EU27 in 2005 was estimated at 4.9 million, or 2.4% of total employment. This ranged between 1.1% in Romania, 1.4% in Portugal, 1.7% in Poland to 3.8% in the Netherlands, 3.5% in Sweden and 3.3% in Finland; 2) People working in the cultural field tend to be better educated than those employed in the economy as a whole. Nearly half of cultural workers in the EU27 in 2005 had completed tertiary education (university studies or similar) and this was true for all member states. The highest proportions of tertiary-educated cultural workers were found in Estonia (64%) and Belgium (63%) and the lowest in Malta (26%) and Portugal (28%); 3) Cultural employment is less secure than ordinary employment. 29% of workers are temporary, employers or freelance, compared with 14% for the labour force as a whole. In all member states apart from Lithuania, Malta and Slovenia, there is a greater proportion of temporary jobs in culture than in the economy as a whole. The highest percentage is found in Italy (53%), Greece and the Netherlands (both 35%) and the lowest in Lithuania (4%) and Estonia and Slovenia (both 7%); 4) 3.9% of all tertiary students in the EU27 followed a course in the arts in the 2004-2005 academic year. The highest proportion was found in Malta (10.9%), Ireland (10.2%) an the United Kingdom (6.5%) and the lowest in Poland (1.0%), Hungary (1.3%) and Romania (1.4%); 5) In 2004, the publishing industry in the EU27 comprised 55,000 companies employing nearly 750,000 people and accounting for 2.7% of the total value-added in manufacturing. The highest proportion was found in the United Kingdom (1.1%), and the Czech Republic, Ireland and Slovakia (all 1.2%); 6) In 2006, exports of works of art, collectors' pieces and antiques were worth €4.7 billion, and imports €3.0 bn. The United Kingdom was by far the largest exporter (€3.2 bn), followed by France (€0.9 bn) and Austria (€0.3 bn); 7) People in the EU went to the cinema a total of more than 900,000 million times in 2006. Inhabitants of Ireland were the most frequent cinema-goers, with an average of 4.2 admissions per person, compared to the EU27 average of 1.9. People in France (3.0), Spain (2.8) and Luxembourg (2.7) also went to the cinema frequently. The lowest attendance was recorded in Romania (0.1), Bulgaria (0.3) and Slovakia (0.6); 8) More than three-quarters of the EU27 population had watched or listened to a cultural programme on TV or the radio in 2006. The use of other cultural facilities was limited to a minority of EU27 citizens, except for visiting historical monuments and going to the cinema, which attracted 54% and 51% of the population respectively. Museums and art galleries (41%), concerts (37%), public libraries (35%) and the theatre (32%) attracted between 30% and 40% of the population, while just under 20% of people living in the EU27 went to the ballet and opera (18%). Info: http: //ec.europa.eu/eurostat (I.L.)