Statistics Netherlands' account for culture and media: significant contribution of culture to the economy

'Balancing bodies', a performance by Cie Woest
Jeroen Trispel

Statistics Netherlands' account for culture and media: significant contribution of culture to the economy

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has compiled a new satellite account on culture and media in the Netherlands, highlighting its contribution to Dutch GDP.
By Simon de Leeuw

Findings

It is the first so-called 'satellite account' of culture and media, offering a detailed overview of the role that the cultural sector within the Dutch economy, and it has now been published in English. Some key figures:

  • The contribution of the culture and media sector to the Dutch economy as a whole (the Netherlands’ GDP) amounted to € 25.5 billion, or 3.7% in 2015. To compare, this is much more than the contribution of sports (1% ) and just a little less than the contribution of tourism (4% ).
  • Expressed in labour years, employment in the culture and media sector amounted to 320,000, representing 4.5% of total employment.
  • The amount that households spent on consuming culture and media was €14.1 billion, or 4.7% of the total consumer expenditure of households in the Netherlands; this amounts to € 1,700 per year per household.

Download the full report in English, or watch the summary of the findings in a short video (by Peter Hein van Mulligen, English subs available).

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