With only 1.6% of the total persons employed in 2016 working in a cultural area, Romania ranked last among EU Member States in terms of cultural employment in 2016, according to data from EU’s statistical office Eurostat. The figure is slightly higher than in 2011, when it stood at 1.4%.

Slovakia ranked second to last with a share of 2.5% while neighboring Bulgaria registered a share of 2.8%.

At EU level, the share of people working in the area of culture grew by 7% between 2011 and 2016, reaching a total of around 8.4 million people in 2016, or 3.7 % of the total number of persons employed. Almost 2 million of those employed were artists and writers, of whom nearly half (48%) were self-employed, according to Eurostat.

Among Member States, the highest shares of cultural employment were observed in Estonia (5.3%), Luxembourg (5.1%) and Sweden (5%).

Eurostat: Romania registers lowest cultural and sports attendance rate in EU

Romania, last in EU for culture expenditure in 2015

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com