Culture plays a significant role in the daily life of European citizens, and statistics can help to illustrate cultural behaviour in the EU as well as cross-cultural contacts. How many students in the EU study arts? How many writers and artists are there in the EU? Has the price of cultural goods and services increased more than the average over recent years? What percentage of the population in the EU read a book or a newspaper in a foreign language?

Answers to these questions on culture and to many more can be found in the publication Cultural statistics1, released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. The publication includes chapters on cultural employment, enterprises and external trade, cultural expenditure and participation as well as a chapter on cultural sites and museums.

Highest shares of art students in the United Kingdom and Ireland

The place of culture in European society can be seen from different angles, such as the number of people working as writers or artists, the percentage of tertiary students studying arts or the size of external trade in cultural goods.

In 2009, in the EU27, 1.5 million people worked as writers or artists, equivalent to 0.7% of total employment. The highest numbers were recorded in Germany (330 000), the United Kingdom (200 000), France (180 000), Italy (120 000), the Netherlands (110 000) and Spain (100 000). Among the Member States, the share of writers or artists in total employment varied from 0.1% in Romania to 1.5% in Finland and Sweden.

During the academic year 2007/2008, 725 000 students, or 3.8% of all tertiary students in the EU27, studied arts. The United Kingdom (6.8%), Ireland (6.6%), Finland (5.6%) and Cyprus (5.5%) recorded the highest shares of tertiary students in arts.

Cultural goods account for a larger share of EU exports than imports. In 2010, 0.6% of EU27 exports of goods and 0.4% of EU27 imports with the rest of the world were cultural goods. The United Kingdom (1.8%), Estonia (0.7%), France, Cyprus, Latvia and Austria (all 0.6%) had the highest shares of cultural goods in their total exports, and Austria (0.9%), Ireland and the United Kingdom (both 0.8%), Greece and Cyprus (both 0.7%) the largest shares in total imports.

Prices for books increased less than the average in the last five years

As regards the prices of cultural goods and services (museums, concerts etc.) in the EU27, prices for newspapers (+17.5%) and cultural services (+13.3%) increased more than the overall index (+11.9%) between 2005 and 2010, while prices for books (+6.5%) rose less.

Highest levels of cross-cultural contacts in Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, Malta and the Netherlands

Cross-cultural contacts were examined in a Eurobarometer public opinion survey. This report shows that in the EU27 in 2007, 27% of persons aged 15 years and over had travelled abroad at least three times in the past three years, 22% had family members living in another European country and 15% in a non European country, 19% often watched television or movies in foreign languages, 9% read foreign-language newspapers and 7% read foreign books in their original language. On the other hand, a quarter (27%) of the respondents said they had none of the cross-cultural contacts mentioned in the survey.

The proportion of cross-cultural contacts varied considerably among Member States, with Luxembourg on top for watching television or movies (80%), reading books (49%) and newspapers (71%) in a foreign language. Apart from Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, Malta and the Netherlands registered the lowest percentage of respondents stating that they had none of the cross-cultural contacts mentioned.